Three reasons why I want to live simply
Photo by Jonathan Blundell
An easier title for this post would have been, “Three reasons why I live simply.”
But I often struggle with feeling confident enough in what I’m doing to claim I’ve arrived at something.
I also don’t ever want to feel like I’ve arrived until I breathe my last breath.
I hope that in every journey I travel on, I’m constantly working towards a greater goal, never settling for the easy finish.
Life should be a continual process of becoming.
And so here’s why I want to live simply…
- Investing more in others rather than myself. The more I spend on myself, the less I have to give away. I personally believe that when we’re blessed, it’s not so we can horde things for ourselves, but so we can be a blessing to others. I also think this carries over into investing personal time and such with people as well. If I share my dinner with friends and family, not only am I giving to them financially, it offers opportunity to give and share relationally.
- Being a good steward of ALL that God has given us. We hear this a lot in our churches, but I think we tend to only apply it to our tithe and finances we give back to the church or other causes. I think this also includes being a good steward of the world around us – i.e. living green, recycling, being mindful of where our stuff comes from, etc.
- Living simply = less stress. Let’s face it, the less you have, the less opportunity you have for things to go wrong. Sure some of those things may happen and stress may still occur but if I become dependent on things – it becomes a lot more stressful when those things don’t work like they should.
As you may be able to tell, my mindset towards living simply has a lot to do with my faith. I feel how I respond to the world around me should be an outward showing of my inward faith. My faith should not only benefit me but the world around me as well — whether people agree with me or not.
Living simply simply helps me live my faith out in real, dynamic ways.
What about you? Why do you want to live simply?
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So much to agree with here! Simplicity is not a place that you arrive at – there will always be things and people and problems trying to bring complexity and clutter into our lives. Like you said, it’s all about the journey, all about moving in a direction of simplicity.
And, as a person who’s life is centered around their faith, I so agree with the second point, and especially with the idea of being mindful of where our stuff comes from. We should reject a good deal if someone got ripped off producing it at such a cheap cost.
Besides the reasons stated above, I also live simply because it’s “simply” more enjoyable than rushing around all the time!
Luke,
Thanks for your comment! I saw someone suggest yesterday on Twitter that making money always costs us something — whether it’s time with family, our social life, stress, etc. We always forget that it’s never quite worth what we give up to get it.
Thanks for your input. Checking out your site now and adding it to my RSS Reader. Take care!