Simple

Tonight's post is short and sweet...in other words, simple.

When people talk about simplicity, I think it conjures up a different picture for everyone. It could be less responsibilities, less stress, more family time, more space, less space, delegating responsibilities, a strict routine or a go-with-the-flow type of mantra. Simple isn't so simple, is it?

For me, simple means getting back to the basics of life, and learning how to do them well. And by basics, I do mean basics. Things like laundry and dishes and ironing shirts. (OK, maybe not that...I don't think I'll ever do that well. Or do it at all! Eek.) Growing our own food, raising animals, purposefully raising and guiding our children. I want to know how to do these basics well, and truly enjoy them, because, whether we like it or not, they take up a LOT of our time. I don't know about you, but if there are things I have to do consistently, and they're not going anywhere, I would rather figure out how to enjoy the time spent doing them rather than rushing through and wishing my life away. Do I do this? Ha. Not hardly. Key verbiage here is that I'm learning. Albeit slowly, I have begun to see that having a wicker laundry basket full of neatly folded clothes is actually pretty, and soul-satisfying in a strange way. If those clothes were hung on the line, it's even more so (that doesn't happen nearly as often as I'd like!) A clean kitchen makes for a sweet, slow start to the day, instead of a stressed or harried morning. Am I weird for all of this? Possibly, but I'm becoming OK with that.

That's part of simple for me. It may be different for you! I love the defintion of simple living given on The Art of Simple: "living holistically with your life's purpose". That's it! It may look different for everyone, but really, that is pretty simple after all.

So here's to simple living, pretty laundry piles, and British TV...because that's about to happen.