Living a more simple earth-friendly lifestyle does not need to be hard. It is not so much about having to do something or start anything. All you really need to do is just quit.
For most of us living in hyper-consumer economies, things have been getting steadily more complicated and cluttered since the 1950s. Now our lives are so full that it is getting difficult to add anything more without clones to help us consume an infinity of stuff.
So just quit and exercise some simple mathematics. No more adding and multiplying the stuff and demands on our time. It is time for subtracting and dividing our way to a more reasonable simple lifestyle, one with more space and time for the things we are passionate about.
Over the years my family has been doing the math, and subtraction is where it is at. Here are a few of the things we have happily removed from our lives.
- fast foods and processed foods
- frequent use of meat
- driving for pleasure and entertainment
- restaurant meals
- excess baggage of stuff that has ceased to be meaningful to us
- Christmas gift giving
- the need to say yes to everything
- shopping
- ketchup
- shaving
- wants
Satisfying our needs is simple and straightforward. As soon as we start adding wants, and especially infinite wants, life gets decidedly more complex. And expensive. And harmful to yourself, others, and the planet.
Instead of starting anything in an already busy life, why not quit a few things? Rather than onerous, you may find it liberating.
I absolutely agree. Over the years, I have quit a lot of things I previously took for natural. One incredibly liberating act was quitting Christmas gifts. I regained the whole month of December, basically. The most important part is becoming aware that something you have been brought up to accept as unquestioned is a rather strange habit. I now question everything in my everyday life. What do I do this for? Do I need it? I have, for instance, foregone commercial toothpaste and replaced it with baking soda (plus a few cloves chewed afterward). Works brilliantly! I have got rid of the wall-to-wall synthetic-fiber carpeting and kicked out the noisy and energy-intensive vacuum cleaner with it. There was a time when I just could not imagine how you would keep your teeth clean without toothpaste or your home without a vacuum cleaner. Always question everything!
ReplyDeletenakedfeetblogger,
DeleteGreat perspective, and one that allows for change, growth, self-improvement and evolution. Less conformity and more questioning is what the world dearly needs.
Ketchup?
ReplyDeleteToo much sugar and salt (and GMO tomatoes?). We thought about making our own, but find we don't miss it that much.
DeleteI quit:
ReplyDelete- gel products (b/c the small particles from gels get into the environment, not good I've read)
- plastic shopping bags
- trash bags
- most paper products
- triple packaged foods and a lot of double packaged
- plastic dishes or plastic cooking stuff
- fast foods & eating out is rare
- burning most lights in my home
- Wal-Mart and as many box stores as possible
- most toiletries items
- quit using laundry soap that is bad for the environment
- a lot of cleaning products
- margarine
- cooking small meals every night, now I cook 2 main larger meals & eat as left overs for a week
- more things I can't think of just now!
A list of things I've reduced my use of came to mind also.
Sometimes I feel like I am not doing enough "quitting," but list making made me realize I'm doing more than I think. This was nice to think about.
Terri,
DeleteNice quitting. Your list illustrates how many things there are that we take for granted, but are not only unnecessary, but also detrimental to our well being. The list of what we really need is small indeed.
So true Gregg.
DeleteI'm returning here to say since reading this post, I've been more conscious of products I use and things I do. I've quit or reduced even more he past couple of weeks.This post and several you've done lately have inspired and motivated me to make additional changes. Positive changes.
Funny how "quitting" gets me moving to the freer side of the bar scale. How much easier my life becomes when I quit modern conveniences that are marketed to make my life easier! Oh, how they lie!