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Millions of songs at our fingertips. Libraries of books with a quick download. Albums of photos easily shared anywhere, anytime. There’s no longer a need to store and maintain shelves of CDs, walls of books and thick books full of pictures. No need. So whatever we keep now is by choice.
For me, its books. I love having them in our home. It makes me feel happy. Like I can jump into another world or learn something new anytime. So I’ll always keep some number of books nearby along with my Kindle app. And there’s a difference between selectively keeping as an additive versus storing or going without.
No doubt technology has made it easier for my husband and me to downsize and simplify. Yet while on vacation recently I noticed how distracted I’d become by my phone. Checking it constantly to see if I had new email, texts, missed calls or interesting posts. It’s very cool to feel instantly connected to friends, family and the world. Yet, it has a tendency to pull me from things I know are deeply important, like fully experiencing the moment.
A couple of days into my vacation, I left my phone in the room to go to the pool. I felt like I was missing something until I started noticing the sound of the ocean waves nearby, listening to children playing and feeling the sun on my face. I began to truly relax and regroup.
It was yet another reminder to me that achieving simplicity is an ongoing process. It requires intentionality to find the desired balance in life. Day by day.