Simply Stupid

Has this ever happened to you?

You’re sitting in a doctor’s office and you see a magazine with a name like “Really Simple” and you think, “Right, the economy stinks. Time to simplify my life.”

You open the magazine and begin to mentally drool over how great your life will be – how fruitful, peaceful and, yea, even empowered you will feel – if only you can apply all the insightful suggestions therein.

For example, did you know you can create an atmosphere of familial calm by repainting your entire house in soothing, cool colors like greens and blues? You are amazed and excited. Why did you not think of this before? First the family room; next the Middle East.

And did you know you can make a fool-proof fire starter for your fireplace using paraffin and dryer lint? Really. All you have to do is harvest the lint (make it a festive event), melt the paraffin, stuff the lint in egg cartons and pour in the paraffin, adding a wick. “Wonderful,” you say to yourself. “Plenty of lint, I’ve got. Now about those other items, I wonder how many stores I will have to drive to to find them.”

I know about magazines like “Really Simple.” They are aimed at people, primarily women, whose lives are complicated. Their premise is that a simple life is actually achievable … if only. If only, in addition to everything else you have to do, you just drop it all and pick up a paintbrush … and the magazine just to make sure you’re doing it right and that the end result is as idyllic and picture perfect as its glossy pages, which, trust me on this, were not at all simple to produce.

With the start of the new year – the economy being what it is – I see a theme emerging on this blog: doing less with less and maybe even being happy with it. Easier than it sounds given the necessity of eating, driving, clothing oneself and, yes, having fun.

Chime in and stay tuned.