Simplicity

Everywhere we go, the world is throwing chaos, complications, and conflict at us. Horns honk, people yell, math problems have forty solutions, and trash is thrown around the otherwise beautiful park behind your house. It's so hard to take a minute to appreciate the calm, the quiet, the simple - because it takes some time to find it in the first place.
But I love simple. And I'm willing to do whatever it takes to find it and enjoy a quiet, simple moment for as long as I can. It started with my phone. Ever since I made an Instagram account, a twitter account, my life has not only been filled with the busyness and conflict I face every day, but the busyness and conflict everyone else faces every day. And I don't need that. Sure, it's good to know what's up. It's nice to support friends and family in their times of trouble. But if people need my help they can contact me directly - I don't need to see their complaints on the internet right next to everyone else's complaints.
So I deleted twitter. I now find that I have more time, I think more, and I'm overall happier. I'm not trying to hate on anyone who complains on twitter or uses twitter - I think social media has it's time and place. But for me, it's time and place was everyday and every second. And that isn't right. So I got it out of my life. But that was months ago.


A couple days ago I realized the same thing was happening with Instagram. I was tired of not thinking. I was bored. So, I didn't delete it (I love pictures...), but I hid it on my phone so that I didn't see it every time I opened my phone.
Now, my phone in general - I just spend too much time on it. I found a cute, simple background that I have on it, and I slid all the apps off of the main page. When I open my phone, I see a window on a blue house - and that's what I want to see. I don't see my messages, my email app, Instagram, Twitter - and when I don't see those things, I don't think that I need to check them, and I turn off the phone.

It's simple.

Suddenly I read more. I get more done in less time. I write more - and I waste less time.

Please don't take this in the wrong way - I don't hate you for using social media, for spending time on your phone. I only suggest that you take a minute to actually think - not while you're holding your phone, not while you're taking a chemistry test - just stop everything, sit down, think. Think about why you use the media. What does it contribute to your life?

I want to be intentional about the things I spend my time doing. And I want to think about what I'm doing. I want to know why I'm here, how I got to this random Instagram user - why am I scrolling through their account? What am I doing? Why aren't I thinking? Why am I watching this movie? I don't even like it. Why don't I go read a book that will a) cause me to think, and b) be something I actually enjoy.

I don't want to be another mindless unit that thinks what the government wants me to think and wastes money on movies and apps from which I gain nothing but exhaustion.

I'm ready to rethink the things I do.

I'm ready to be intentional, simple.