Just a Spoonful of Simple

College life is noisy. And not just in SDH-at-primetime, Friday-night-freshman-dorm, losing-your-hearting-at-Domerfest scenarios but in our daily lives. Our schedules often resemble mangled crossed out scrapbooks rather than bulleted lists, our rooms tend to suggest recent earthquake activity, and our electronic plug-ins pose serious fire hazards at times. We’re busy and we’re bustling, but hey, at least but we’re an ambitious bunch of crazies!

With all that academic drive and determination setting the pace of campus life, it’s easy to get swept away in the madness, to get caught in the flow of a harried daily and a hyperactive do-it-all attitude.

And when we catch a break, we notice how exhausted we are. We’re overcrowded, chock-full, packed in, and overrun. So how do we save ourselves?

I suggest a healthy dose of “voluntary simplicity” with a spoonful of positivity to help the medicine go down. 

Academic Duane Elgin defines voluntary simplicity as “a manner of living that is outwardly more simple and inwardly more rich, a way of being in which our most authentic and alive self is brought into direct and conscious contact with living.”

The gist of Elgin’s argument is that with simplifying, by choice rather than coercion (“voluntary”), we are setting ourselves up for peace, mindfulness, and a full life. “To live more simply is to unburden ourselves—to live more lightly, cleanly, aerodynamically.”

A common symptom of the overburdened, overscheduled, and overly consumerist lifestyle is a loss of heart and genuine connection to the activities we felt called to in the first place. The moment a bud of resentment replaces your spark for something due to its burden on your timetable, a step back and some voluntary simplicity is in demand.

When less energy is expended on the trivial, the overly excessive, and the unnecessary, more energy is available for full living. For example, this time of Lent encourages us to choose something to sacrifice – like a sugary indulgence, precious Facebook time, or a persistent neglect of the overflowing closet. This Lenten sacrifice frees up just a little more energy to be used for mindful living, true presence with people you love, and prayer.

In a way, it’s indulgent and a bit rebellious to live simply—to purposefully, voluntarily reject the excess and the disposable that congests your lively spirit.

Before you burn out on agendas and trivialities, be a “voluntary simplicity” maverick and find your center, your “ommmm.” Put the heart back into your day-to-day, by simplifying day by day.

Elgin, Duane. “Voluntary Simplicity and the New Global Challenge.” Voluntary Simplicity:

     Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich. New York: Quill, 1993.

     Print.

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