The transition to living simply

Living simply is a commitment. It is a commitment to yourself and the world. And while I love lofty ideals, I’ve found that “living simply” on a day to day level is also about the less glamorous reality of commitment to patience, perseverance and creativity.

YES Magazine recently did a whole issue on the new “Do-It-Yourself” economy. As I read through it, I realized that without knowing it, my partner and I had joined a movement. We had decided to try and commit to a new way of living. I had recently quit my job as a Project Director of a National youth project to write a book on self-care for people doing social change work. My partner agreed to hold down a job (and healthcare), while I did year or two of unpaid work on writing the book.

Before we knew it, we were off on a new adventure. Being Disabled activists, we both deeply believed in living interdependently, and asking for help didn’t scare either of us. However, we were totally unprepared for the reactions of friends and family to the level of understanding we were now asking of them. My partner and I come from very different economic backgrounds. Choosing to live on the bare minimum seemed to puzzle everyone we loved, but for different reasons.  It was an adjustment for some family and acquaintances to understand our choosing heart over security. Presents to family and friends were fewer, or handmade. We needed to plan ahead to eat out and weren’t able to just go out on a whim. Travel and big expenditures became almost extinct. It has been an adjustment, but we are committed to getting creative.

My partner and I also had a hard time adjusting to what we now expected of each other. I, feminist to the heart, reacted in a big way to some of our family’s assumptions that I was supposed to be spending my time cooking and cleaning and “providing for my man”. Some family members just couldn’t understand why the house was still messy or certain tasks weren’t completed in time. It really drove home for me how much doing work that was unpaid, like writing a book, was almost unseen or was hard for folks to relate to. Despite other people’s assumptions and my own reactions, my partner and I really did want to commit to living more sustainably. We signed up for the local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), splitting a share with extended family and all of a sudden we had to really think about how to cook and make a week’s worth of meals out of 6 different kinds of greens. We came to the conclusion that we really did need to readjust some of our roles. Because my schedule was more flexible, I could research what to cook or plan out, for example, homemade gifts. We still split most household responsibilities, yet I needed to emotionally get over my stuff about taking on the more traditionally female household chores.    

The thing I was most left with after reading that issue of YES, was, “I want to hear more!” I wanted to hear about and share day to day experiences about living a more simple life. How others are choosing to do what feels right to their heart and for the environment. What it is like for all of us making this choice to let ingrained ideas of success and security go…. Hopefully this blog can become one of the many community spaces to do so.