In today’s complex, stressful world, life often seems to be filled with frustrations and worries. Many people are very worried about paying bills and covering necessary daily living expenses, especially in these current difficult economic times. Television news reports contain stories of people growing their own gardens, cutting or coloring their hair at home, and eating out less often. The news portrays these type of events as negative, rather than positive. It seems to me that the current economy may be causing many people to return to the basics of life, which were common in simpler times.

Before the boom of technology, families spent more time together. They ate meals together on a regular basis, and entertainment may have involved watching a favorite tv program, but it may have also included playing a board game together. This type of entertainment didn’t cost anything, and provided the time for families to bond together and really get to know each other as people. Women often hung clothes out on a line to dry, and while that was work, it often provided them the opportunity to get to know their neighbors and foster friendships with other women. In order to clothe the family, many women also sewed in order to provide clothing and quilts or blankets for the family. At the time, this may have seemed like a hardship and a lot of work, but it seems to me that those times were simpler; life just seemed simpler then.

In today’s world, many people long for simplicity in life. For many years, I have personally longed for simplicity in life. With the invention of the computer, cell phones, and other devices that allow you to check e-mail or send a text message, it seems that people have lost touch with each other. Life is lived at a fast pace and everyone is running around, going to meetings, going to work early and staying late, eating meals on the run, and in many cases, rarely seeing the family on a regular basis. Personal contact, even within families, has become limited.

Not only has personal contact become limited, entertainment requires more money, more time, and more special effects to keep the public from getting bored. The board games of yesteryear no longer suffice for entertainment value. Those games are now often played on a computer or some other electronic device. Many of these games are played by one person, further limiting personal contact with other human beings. There is nothing wrong with technological advances. of course, but I often think we have lost something in the process. I think we have lost the ability to connect with other human beings in a personal way, and the simplicity of life that was once enjoyed seems to have been replaced by the complexities of modern times.

Many years ago, my life was stressful for many reasons, but in living through that time, may husband and I made choices that resulted in a simplicity of life that I still miss. Due to financial constraints, we grew our own food and had a great garden for several years. I learned to make bread because it was cheaper than buying store bought bread. While I did have a commercial washer and dryer, there were days when I had to dry clothes on the line, and I found that I enjoyed hanging clothes on the line on nice days. At the time, those activities seemed like a hardship, but in looking back, it actually became a life of simplicity. And in current economic times, my family and I are secure in the knowledge that we can return to a life of simplicity.