Just Be Yourself

I've been dipping back in to the simplicity pool lately. Over a dozen years ago, I bought and read the book Simplify Your Life by Elaine St. James. I liked it then..... a lot. I picked it back up a few days ago and started thumbing through. Yep, I've done that. Yep, I've done that. No, haven't gotten to that yet. It was surprising to me both the things that I have simplified and the ones that are still all in a wad. And yes, I still like the book.



One of the hundred ways Ms. St. James gives to simplify your life is to "Just Be Yourself". She gives an exercise whereby you go through all the major parts/areas of your life and decide if and how each one would be different if the only person you were trying to impress was YOU. Some of the questions to answer are:

• would you drive a different car? HELL NO. I just got this one and I don't care if it guzzles gas, I'm not giving it up. I LIKE IT. IT'S BIG and HOLDS EVERYTHING. Granted, I can't DRIVE it as much because I can't pay for the gas, but when I do drive it, I LIKE IT.


• would you have a different career? Well, seeing as how I never really had much of one in the first place, I guess I'd have to decide if I really want one at all at this stage of life. Unless of course you count "puttering" as a career. I'm a terrific putterer.


• what kind of house would you live in? Something that looked like it came out of a fairy tale or the English countryside....whimsical, fun, strange, but WAY comfortable. I'd like to be "different" in the third act of my life. Take a little 50s ranch and turn it into........ WOW!WHAT KIND OF HOUSE IS THAT???


• how would you dress? Basically, like I do right now. After my 20s, I pretty much have dressed for myself ever since. For the last year or so, I was really in to dresses. Still like 'em. But now, I'm going back to jeans, white shirts (see profile picture) and boots. Or Keds. Seems to just fit the lifestyle better. Hard to wrangle dogs with something flouncing around your knees all the time.

So, if you were only trying to impress yourself, what would you change? What would you keep? I'd like to think that since those Yuppie 80s, we've all kind of relaxed on that "keeping up with the Joneses" thing.