The Beauty of Simplicity
Life has gotten complicated. Working has gotten complicated. Maintaining healthy family relationships has gotten more complicated. Educating children has gotten complicated. Living a balanced life has gotten complicated as our daily routines have been ripped asunder.
At the same time, for many people, life has become more simple. The time, effort and money previously put into our outward appearance has diminished significantly and so has our vanity. No more expensive, frequent trips to the hair salon and nail salon. No need to spend countless hours shopping because there is no place to go. Even the newscasters, television hosts and entertainers appearing from home look like regular people because the professional stylists are no longer at their beck and call.
While the virus has necessitated people wearing masks in public places, it has also resulted in people taking off the masks they previously wore to enhance their image. For the first time, right after the virus became a pandemic, I got to see what one of my neighbors actually looked like. Before the virus I had never seen her when she wasn't dressed and adorned to the nines. Her hair was always perfectly coiffed, make-up including false eye lashes meticulously applied, and her attire was assembled as though she had just walked out of a fashion magazine. Since the virus, she wears no make-up, a baseball cap over her naturally flowing hair, and very casual clothes. Interestingly, I find her much more approachable and attractive. I get to see the real person.
Many of our retired friends previously spent most of their time travelling, going out to dinner and attending sporting and entertainment events. Our working friends spent most of their time working. Now we are all being challenged to find a new way to live, at least for now. More people are walking and biking. More people are cooking. Some are learning a new language or an instrument. Some are having old- fashioned picnics on big lawns or in fields where they social distance and bring their own food, drink and blankets or chairs. Lots of people are doing puzzles. Yes, some are eating and drinking more and binge watching television while others are becoming more fit.
Families are spending more time together. Some are forced to face and work through unhealed wounds if they want to survive under the same roof. Some family members are getting to know one another for the first time. Others are facing the grim yet freeing reality that they need to leave a relationship.
This is not intended to paint a rosy picture over a dire situation. Many are struggling with economic hardship, mental health issues, and strained relationships but if we look at how behavior patterns are changing, we see that many of the behaviors are reminiscent of an earlier time in our country's history. A time when people were not so focused on the acquisition of material things. A time when people and families spent time and ate dinner together. A time when we were more physically active and weren't glued to our technology. A time when home was where we spent most of our time instead of seeking thrills and pleasures on the other side of the globe or through entertainment events providing an escape from our every day lives. That's not to say that travel and entertainment are not enriching, enjoyable activities.
We live in a complicated, cluttered world that too often leaves us exhausted and drained. Perhaps this is our opportunity to find a new way of being, a simpler way of being. It is nice to have many options and diversions but can we have too many options? Have we become like small children during the holidays, overwhelmed by too many toys? How many times have you heard mothers say that their toddlers preferred playing with household pots and pans over fancy toys?
Many people have spent some of their covid days decluttering and reorganizing their homes. Perhaps we need to declutter and reorganize our lives. Maybe when we get back to some kind of normal, we need to spend less time running around and more time in nature. Instead of seeking entertainment that is served up to us we need to find ways to better entertain ourselves. Instead of filling our children's schedule with a multitude of sports and other extra curricula activities, we need to spend more time doing things one-on-one or as a family.
Usually it is the simple things that bring us the most joy. We seem to have forgotten the beauty of simplicity. Those who are dog lovers know the pure joy of being greeted at the door by a pet who loves you unconditionally. Nature lovers know the cleansing, healing power of a long hike in the woods or the joy that comes from seeing the stars fade as the morning sun peeps over the horizon. Artists can't help but create because their souls demand it. As humans, we are not all destined to be accomplished artists but we are all designed to create.
Most of all, is there anything more down deep satisfying than a genuine soul-to-soul connection with another person, whether it be a stranger, friend or family member? Business all too often inhibits such connection because we are never still enough to "see" the other person or let our own heart open to something other than meaningless, mindless chatter.
None of these simple pleasure require money and you don't need to go far from home to find them. Instead of bemoaning what we don't have or can't do, perhaps we can cultivate our ability to be, to create, to connect and to love. If enough of us can do that, there can be a silver lining to the virus, even though at the moment it seems like a destructive tornado threatening to bring us down.