The Beauty of Simplicity

I have dealt with weight issues my entire life.

Lots of reasons behind this, but this post is not about that.

I have been off and on Weight Watchers since I was 17. And yes, I do recommend it. WW has never failed me… every time I stuck with it, I reached my goal.

But this time around, many things are different. I now have arthritis in both knees, and the extra weight is becoming a greater bother every day.

And this time around, I know my head is in the right place.

I am calm. I am not rushed. All is good.

But the focus of this post is the beauty of simplicity.

You see, I am finding that the simpler the food, the more I enjoy it.

Sure, I will eat chips, pepperoni pizza, and other food not particularly healthy for me.

But when it comes down to it, I have always preferred simple things.

When I was a kid, I used to love salad with no dressing. No lemon. Naked salad was my thing. I actually loved lettuce.

This always threw the wait staff off.

“No Lemons? No anything?? Maybe a little something on the side???”

I believe this used to embarrass my mother. So I basically got shamed into a world of blue cheese dressing.

I also used to love plain omelettes. I remember being young enough that I would drag a chair to put in front of the range so I could make one for lunch.

Did I mention I considered going to culinary school for quite some time?

Sorry… I digress..

I never liked fried foods.

But again, shame intervened. What kind of child does not like KFC? Here… eat this drumstick!

I was never a fan of cheap chocolate bars.

I was called a picky eater, but in reflection, I don’t believe that was true.

I just liked simple.

With all of the revelations about processed foods, trans fats, sugar, and the like, it looks like little me was right all along. (Neener, Neener, Neener)

But the beauty of simplicity extends far beyond food.

As humans, our craving for more, bigger, more complex, has been our downfall.

We could survive quite well on the simplicity of what nature provides us.

Fruit, veggies, wheat.

Walking instead of driving. Perhaps a bike for longer distances. A simple boat to cross the water.

But no… we humans always need more. Nothing will ever be enough.

If we could just learn to work with nature. Create energy from sustainable resources. We could probably achieve greater advances, though not as quickly as we might like. So we take shortcuts.

Because we are always focused on the short game, so rarely the long.

Most people have children. You would like to think that the focus would be on a world we could proudly pass on, unscathed.

But… sadly no.

We are in just too big of a hurry.

We let our egos run amok.

We call folks living a simpler life “backward.”

Instead of trying to learn from them.

From each other.

We all have something to contribute.

Maybe this current world needs to come to a crashing halt, just so we can all remember the beauty of simplicity.

And be grateful for this planet we have be blessed with.

And all of the people on it.