Embracing Simplicity: Navigating the Choice Between Easy Living and the Simple Life

 Intro Question,

I heard a great observation, “the grass is always greener on the other side”. There are so many variations to this it makes your head spin. From, “the grass is always greener where you water and care for it”, to “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence until you hop over it and land in cow shit”. The views of that theory go from positive to negative. But the thought of something or someone better off than where you are at in life is both a choice and an opinion. A choice we have all made purposely or inadvertently, and an opinion that may be fleeting. I’m not talking about falling on hard times or a tragedy that changes one’s lifestyle, I’m talking about day to day. Looking over the fence is a look at something fresh and new and possibly a “want”. We get use to the daily humdrum and what is happening “over there” always looks better. 
Which renders the “thought”, do you want the Simple life or the Easy life. A select group will choose neither as they prefer the fast pace, or chaotic challenges, it’s what makes them perk. The glam, slam, and daily cram, its what drives many people to be who they are. I use to like the finer things, the city life, (small city of 400,000), the hustle and bustle of the nightlife, I still do like the finer things actually, I just don’t need them to be happy.
After so many years of that lifestyle one will choose to settle in and relax a bit, I will place odds on it.
So, the Simple Life or an Easy life, what’s your take?  

Simple life:
Living with less technology, finding happiness in the simple things, less clutter (possessions), in other words living with simplicity. But is the simple life always simple? Not necessarily. Let’s say a person wants a simple life living in a rural area, away from the noise and chaos of a densely populated area. The convenience of easy shopping goes away. One would need to learn a bit about organizing to make fewer trips to town. If there were a power outage, rural areas are not first on the list to be restored. Although a rural area doesn’t mean seclusion, it does mean Taco Bell isn’t on the next block.
Some want a garden to grow their own food, as well as possibly raise chickens for fresh eggs. Chickens take a lot of work, but it’s worth it to go out and collect your own fresh eggs. Gardening is another topic that people want to try out but find out it very hard to get started and to keep it up, and when the garden is producing a great crop, what do you do with all the produce? Either start canning or give it away, canning is another challenge, but once learned, it is so very beneficial.
Simple life does not mean living in the country either. You can live a simple life merely by cutting out all the mental, technological, and physical clutter. It really is not that easy if your life is used to it. But when you do, even partially, what a difference.

Easy life:
The easy life is like a simple life; having everything you need, no worries, no hassles. I did say everything you need, not want, that’s two different conversations. The easy life is not that easy either. Having the convenience of being close to shopping, dining out, and a great income, living comfortably. With all of this comes crime in populated areas, chaos during the busy times of the day and week, traffic. Higher cost of living, property taxes are always higher in city neighborhoods, as well as other rules and policies. Many can have an easy life away from the metro (small or large) surroundings, but there is that daily commute to town, the mental rush of meeting timelines, and so on. Now, a person could possibly be making a comfortable living in the rural setting to keep up with their so called “easy”, but I will guarantee it is not easy, not the easy life. Wages are lower, jobs are more laborious, conditions can be quite different.

I have checked out the different talking points for the simple life and the easy life and have seen them confused as the same. But they are not. To simplify your life, you sacrifice convenience in the beginning. It sounds easy at first and yes does become easy after time, but habits are hard to break when it comes to change.
And to achieve an easy life, one must work hard to get it established. Neither way of living is Easy or Simple, but the rewards are great on both sides.

I have driven “the 405” during morning and evening rush hours for 20 miles and it would take 2 hours. Working long hours with equal amounts of stress and time away from home was my path to the “Easy life”, only to have corporate changes help me adjust my way of life.
I have since been driving highway 26 through the cornfields on my daily commute for 40 miles in 40 minutes living a simpler life. Two different worlds indeed, but I will gladly take the simple life. This is just my choice and me “thinking out loud”.

Thoughts?

- Note - Everyone has an opinion and a choice of how they want to live, this blog was only to share my opinion and nothing more. I choose quiet over chaos, the sound of the trees blowing from a big breeze over the sound of sirens and emergency vehicles, seeing my closest neighbor at a distance over being able to reach out and touch the side of their house. I choose a town of 7900 community minded folks over a city where everyone is a stranger. A chose a town that not only has a Christmas parade, but a 4th of July parade, as well as a Harvest festival parade, a Halloween parade, summer months where the main street gets closed to traffic for concerts and dancing, if you want. The community will always have some kind of function for people to get out and enjoy life as well as each other.