Case Study Two
This is somewhere in between poetry and a write-up. I couldn’t decide how to express this fully, it’s complex. But alas, my perspective on the simple life;
As a man, life’s not easy
Somewhere along the journey
We have this hope
Successfully satiating our souls that it’ll eventually be
But the truth is
Tension will always exist
The tension between financial prudence and enjoyment
Displaying emotional intelligence or logical astuteness
Giving adequate time to family
Or
Sacrificing quality time to work on the very vision they’ve encouraged you to pursue
A life of purity and devotion to God
As opposed to
The freedom to do what we want
Counting the cost of what it requires to be
The complete man
Became that, and still stand
With virtues that wealth cannot buy
Seems as difficult as a needle entering a camel’s eye
We pursue simplicity
Because it breeds predictability
Which arguably makes life a bit more easy
But pursuing simplicity
Especially in the 21st century
Has never been more difficult
It casts my mind back to Genesis 1
God created the world by speaking
6 days and the deed was done
But the complexity of the human anatomy is crazy
As are the atomic structure of the seas
The flaccid luminescent creatures that reside within it
Planet Earth majestically tilts on its axis
Exquisitely distanced from the sun
Just enough
To not burn or freeze its inhabitants to death
Our world is complex
Yet a being simply spoke
Regardless of your religious disposition
There’s a principle to unravel
That’s layered and elusive
Simplicity and complexity aren't mutually exclusive
So this is relevant to
A man’s side hustle that’s started well and gone lopsided
Or the man wallowing on day 26
Because he failed at remaining clean without beholding anything obscene
Pursuing a life of simplicity has immense complexities
I’m an advocate for building predictable systems that facilitate growth
But unpredictable events can act as a hindrance to the vision you’ve written
Humans are not simple beings
We never have been and we never will be
But perhaps the glorious thing
Is the simplicity of our complexity
That we can still strive to dot our eyes and cross our t’s
And eliminate all things that strive to distract
Not failing to plan because we don’t plan to fail
Stripping away the emotional baggage that derails
Become creatures of habit as certain non-negotiables define our actions
Yet
Still make room for our complexity
The days when we genuinely need to sleep in
On the off-days, we need grace and community
Absence of rigidity
Freedom for spontaneity and creativity
Appreciating the times to laugh, watch movies, read
To ride the waves of life
Rather than loathing the very presence of the tides
And for some
More specifically for me
My utmost dependency upon divinity
To help me navigate life wisely
Understanding myself with bullseye-level accuracy
That for me,
Is striving to lead a simple life
Not trying to negate parts of our humanity
But living fully amidst our nuance and complexity
Yours Truly,
A Simple Man