Voluntary Simplicity

VoluntarySimplicity.org.uk is an attempt to gather articles and web content relating to voluntary simplicity and simple living on the internet. So how can we define voluntary simplicity, and simple living in general?

To me, Voluntary simplicity is to stop seeking happiness and contentment in material goods, and to try to reduce your reliance on consumption. It means to take more time to do the things that feel meaningful to you.

Voluntary simplicity is to prioritise acquiring real life experiences and knowledge, be it from travelling, socialising, reading or anything else that you find truly enjoyable; and to spend less time acquiring material things.

Most people do not enjoy their work. If you are someone who gets up every morning, and cannot wait for the work-day to start, you are truly blessed. But for most, work-life involves meaningless and unfulfilling office paper shuffling, unhappy people engaging in petty office politics, and tiresome and long commutes to and from the workplace, which leaves little time for people to actually life their lifes and results in unhappiness, poor health.

This often means that many people who feel like they have had enough, and are ready to embrace the life of voluntary simplicity, end up leaving their full-time work, and that they step to the side of what so many consider to be an important part of “normal life”. But what is so normal with “getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car, and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it”? [1]

Even if you lead a life of voluntary simplicity, you can still enjoy the good things in life, and it doesn’t mean that you always have to go for the cheaper option, or to lead a life of frugality and poverty.

Voluntary simplicity is about leading a life where you have the freedom to take hold of your own life, and to steer it in the direction that you want it to be.

[1] Columnist Ellen Goodman, as quoted on http://www.greatriv.org/vs.htm