Ideas Worth Thinking About

Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash
There is beauty in seeing things from a different perspective.

I just finished listening to a book called Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver.  I really enjoyed hearing her story of the transformation of her life and the things she learned along the way.  She started her story from when she was in an abusive marriage.  Then she was a single Mom of one daughter who worked a ton and went into a lot of debt to give her and her daughter things she felt they "deserved".  Then she got married again to a good man and they continued collecting stuff and going places they couldn't afford until she got MS.  After that things slowly transformed as she worked to get rid of stress and be healthier so that she could be present and healthier for her family.

Some of the things she mentioned learning were that children need, and prefer, time with their parents more than piles and piles of stuff.  She learned that things own us as much as we own them.  Once we have them we need to store them and take care of them.  So many of us store piles of things we don't look at for years, but that we keep "just in case".  She and her husband took a class from Dave Ramsey and got out of debt.  They got rid of things they didn't love and ended up downsizing from a 2000 square foot house to a 750 sq. ft. apartment.  She quit her job and started doing something she loved and taking more time with family and friends.

Some of the things she learned would probably seem extreme to a lot of people, but she is happy with her choices and realizes that not everyone's situations are the same.  Some people are super glad not to have to work in a yard while others look forward to creating their own garden, or retreat, or play area.  Some people have larger families and more room makes sense.  Some people love hosting and staying at home, and some want to travel as much as possible.  

One of the interesting things to me was the thought that we sometimes avoid our problems through things.  We may not know how to solve our problems, or who to get help from, or where to find the energy and courage to face them and so we keep ourselves busy doing things that do not really add value to our lives.  We shop for things we already have too many of, or watch television so that we do not have to think.  We do things mindlessly to avoid things that are hard.  Sometimes this can be helpful, but if we do it all of the time, we may be keeping ourselves from moving forward.

I like to remember when I read or listen to books that the ideas in them are just that -- ideas.  I do not have to adopt them all.  On the other hand, there is research behind some of the ideas I read and reading about these ideas gives me a chance to think of something in a different way than I may have before.  Different perspectives can be life changing, or they can just give us an interesting view of how other people live.  I do recommend Soulful Simplicity.  I thought it had ideas worth thinking about!