Farewell! Thou art too dear for my possessing

How hard to say goodbye. We’ve know each other for years. It’s sad to think that we’ll no longer be able to hang out together. We have had some seriously amazing times but, my dear, I simply cannot do it any longer. This is the part where I say it’s not you, it’s me. Truly you must understand.  The countless hours I’ve held you, nurtured you, the constant gifts I’ve bestowed upon you and you’ve used many of them, and appreciated them more. So gracious you’ve been. How well you’ve taken care of my whims. My demanding presence, I understand, cannot be easy to be with. I’ve tried so hard but no matter my efforts I’ve fallen short, and in failing myself I’ve failed you. No longer. We must each be free. Free to follow our separate paths.

Truth be told, I’ve found someone new. It’s no secret. It has been coming for a long time. Those countless hours spent gazing into your face, aglow and beckoning with your sweet stories. Those hours have left me exhausted, and longing for simpler times. You will move on, I know. Someone new will snatch you up and genuinely appreciate all you have to give. You’ll be much happier than you are with me. I…

Uh oh. How awkward.  Um… 4s, meet RugbyIII, my new phone.

 

 

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What’s Next?

It’s funny how much thought is going into this. What started out as a simple ‘I’m getting rid of my smart phone and getting a dumb one’ has escalated a bit into ‘lets see how much shtuff (spelling intended) I can get rid of’. It’s a fun process bolstered partially by the fact that at the same time I’m purging the things in my life, I’m packing the house for a move.

None the less, this is no ordinary ‘what-can-I-get-rid-of-so-I-don’t-have-to-move-it purge. This is starting life anew, in a way. The maintenance of things is something I think we all spend a ton of time on and I would like to feel the difference, if any, in how my time is spent without the clutter.

It seems like a lot of these processes end up being blogs with pictures of river stones and yoga mats written by sensitive men with ponytails. Of course there is nothing wrong with that but I hope this process doesn’t morf in that direction. In a way it feels as though those types of messages are out of reach to the masses, as though you have to have some sort of spiritual, quiet base to build upon in order to achieve the true serenity those messages postulate. That is not how this feels at all. I simply want to enjoy actual life in a much more corporeal way. Again, don’t misunderstand, I am a very spiritual person but spirituality, in my mind does not have to be all fluffy. I think it should be a blast! So I guess we’ll just have to see what’s next.

The new phone is on it’s way though! In the mean time I have paired down the IPhone to just the apps that come on the phone itself. It’s been about 3 days now and I gotta say it’s been interesting. I found myself not reaching for the phone when normally I wouldn’t be caught without it even when, say, taking out the garbage. I’ve had this ‘something might happen without me’ mentality for some time it seems, but guess what! Nothing happened while I was taking out the garbage! To the best of my knowledge I did not miss out on one single thing. Another cool thing I noticed the other day while feeding my 6 month old with the bottle I noticed the stars in her eyes. Has she had those all along? Or just since I’ve not been learning about the mating habits of the Hickory Horned Devil Caterpillar in another riveting post on Facebook?

 

It started with pictures of cats

I sold my smart phone and bought a flip phone. There. I said it.

Thing is, I’ve been more and more aware lately just how much time I spend on my smart phone. What on earth did we do before these marvels came to improve our lives? I mean they really are amazing. I’ve been known to say, while gushing over how cool my IPhone is, that I could even buy a house just simply using the phone. So why the heck would I get rid of it?

Well, I blew 8 minutes of my life. One day I found myself, as usual, with my face and a thumb stuck to my phone. A post on Facebook entitled ‘The 100 Most Important Cat Pictures of all Time‘ had me enrapt. Now here is where I should say I do not at all like cats, and when I came to I was at picture #75 and realized that I will never get those 8 minutes of my life back.

Now don’t misunderstand, I love the internet. I love Facebook, and Twitter. I love the wealth of information at our fingertips. Technology really is amazing!  I’ve just come to realize that while I’ve had my face planted to a screen convincing myself I was mildly entertained, I have missed out on life. Life was happening all around me and I didn’t even notice.

Turns out this was just the beginning. I’ve begun looking at other facets of my life as well. This blog is an effort to share my journey into what I hope will be a simpler life. Thanks for checking it out! Pictures and more simplifying to come.