Thoughts on simplicity

I want to live simply. I want to sit by the window when it rains and read books I’ll never be tested on. I want to paint because I want to, not because I’ve got something to prove. I want to listen to my body, fall asleep when the moon is high and wake up slowly, with no place to rush off to. I want not to be governed by money or clocks or any artificial restraints that humanity imposes on itself. I just want to be, boundless and infinite.

-Source unknown

I often read aspirational stuff like this and feel this deep yearning for a simpler life. Many times throughout my life I’ve stepped away from certain things in search of simplicity, only to find myself dragged back out of habit or necessity.

Stepping away from social media for two years was the best thing for my intellectual life. I read more in that time than I ever have.

Lately, and especially since I’ve started writing, I’ve been wanting to get more reading done, but in the last year, I’ve gotten so immersed in distractions that I wonder If I’ll ever get to that place again.

The first time I simplified my life I did it so drastically that there wasn’t some process of easing into it gradually. I have to wonder whether this works best because you can realise the benefits immediately. You are very suddenly confronted with emptiness. Whether that is in the absence of physical clutter or distractions.

I am getting very close to a breaking point where I need to make more space in my life for certain things to flourish.