About
Living a Simple Life is about the myriad paths that can be taken along the way to the same destination.
The goal is happiness. Varying degrees of voluntary simplicity, minimalism, introspection, lifestyle design, homesteading, self-sufficiency and frugality are all potential means to that end. And the act of questioning “voluntary complexity” is the first step down many of those paths.
Who Are We?
We are several bloggers, or blogging families, who share some common interests. The Simple Life bloggers believe that the “American Dream” doesn’t necessarily have to include a life strapped onto the work, consume, work treadmill. We don’t all live in the woods. We don’t all make our own clothes, cheese, soap… Not all of us can build our own home, and some of us have mortgages. We come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, geographic locations, and upbringings. Although we may approach the ideal from different angles, we’re all just trying to do what we can to cut through some of what clutters up our own lives and get back to the basics of living a happy, simple life.
What does “Rethinking Voluntary Complexity” mean?
We voluntarily clutter up our lives. We voluntarily jump on the work-consume-work treadmill. Nobody forces us to buy the newest plasma-screen television and have 300+ channels of TV beamed down by satellite. Nobody forces us to trade in a perfectly-working vehicle for the newer model every five years. There are no rules saying we have to live in a gigantic home at the end of a culdesac in order to raise happy children, or that we have to move up the corporate ladder in order to be considered successful. Maybe you really like television. Some of us are film buffs! The point is not that TV is bad, or that a new car is bad. The point is that it is our CHOICE to make, and sometimes – on the road to happiness – it helps to stop and ask ourselves (to re-think) the hard questions. Is it really a choice I’m making, or am I being persuaded by hype, media, the Joneses… Are my buying decisions conscious or habitual? Do I get to spend enough time with my family? Could we still get by on less money if I worked fewer hours and cut out some of what we don’t need? Am I living the life I want to live, or am I just being swept along with the flow of time and the winds of change?
Our tag-line is obviously a play on the familiar phrase “voluntary simplicity”. To seek voluntary simplicity implies that you are shedding your life of all baggage and getting down to the most basic of essentials. To merely “rethink” voluntary complexity only implies that you’re stopping long enough to ask some important questions about your life and how you want to live it. Voluntary simplicity is a noble goal, but we have to be honest with ourselves and take this journey one step at a time, never losing sight of the TRUE goal, which is happiness.
WANTED: Your Collaboration!
Our comments are open and we accept guest posts from other bloggers with similar interests. So please join us in exploring the so-called “Simple Life”.
What does that phrase mean to YOU?
