Why Living a Simple Life is so Fulfilling

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the constant bombardment of noise? Overstimulated by the never ending stream of advertisements and posts on social media? Does the pace at which our world, our society, speeds through their days and weeks make you dizzy? Me too friend, me too. Not only is trying to keep up with the crazy pace of society not a way to live, but it’s not how we were meant to live. The anxieties and pressures we find ourselves swimming in don’t have to have the final say. In fact, they don’t have to have a say at all! Through choosing to walk away and start living a simple life, you can find fulfillment and joy. You can start living!

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Our world no longer hears God because it is constantly speaking at a devastating speed and volume, in order to say nothing. Modern civilization does not know how to be quiet. It holds forth in an unending monologue.

– Cardinal Sarah

Why live a simple life?

We make things too complicated. Life is simple really. There is one thing which we should be doing with our time here on earth, and that is growing closer to Our Lord and becoming the person, the saint, that He is calling us to be.

It’s easy to get caught up in the noise of the world’s questions. What do I want to be? What career do I want to have? What car do I want to drive? What kind of house do I want to live in?

While not necessarily problematic questions in and of themselves, there is one common thread that would behove us to pay attention to. The world always asks us to consider what do I want, rather than what does God want.

When we get caught up in the never ending cycle of what do I want, life becomes complicated and looses its luster and joy.

Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be and becoming that person.

St. Therese of Lisieux

When we simplify our lives, what we are doing at the core is stripping off the attachments we have to the world and grasping the hand of Christ as He leads us to our eternal home.

The crazy part, is that by more perfectly conforming our wills to the will of Our Lord, we become more ourselves and acquire a deeply rooted sense of peace and joy. We feel a deep sense of fulfillment with our lives.

What are we missing?

While I think there is much beauty and goodness in the homesteading movement, I fear they miss the core purpose of living a simple life in many cases. It feels like the push is for simple living in and of itself rather than as the best means of achieving a closer relationship with God.

We shouldn’t separate the two. Living a life where we are producing some of what we need, working with our hands and returning to a place of community with others are important tenants of the homesteader as well as the Christian seeking a holy life with Christ.

How to start living a simple life:

Turn inward
Build real friendships
Emulate the Holy Family
Practice/acquire the virtues
Be frugal
Have gratitude for the blessings you’ve been given

Turn inward:

Before we can begin living a simple life, we must turn inward and take a long hard look at ourselves. We are, quite often, the first stumbling block on this journey towards living a more fulfilling life.

We have to ask ourselves the hard questions, not because we need to beat ourselves up, but because an honest look at our shortcomings, and acknowledging them, is the first step if we want to change and grow.

Not only that, but with all of the noise from social media and society telling us what we should think and how we should live, it becomes easy for things to become complicated in our head.

Picture of a white tea cup and saucer etched with daisies sitting next to a sunflower painted candle stand.

What are some of the hard questions?

Am I seeking God first in my life?
Do I live with an attitude of thanksgiving?
Am I constantly trying to impress people in my life?
Do I feel the need to constantly accumulate more ‘stuff?’
Am I patient and loving towards my spouse and children?
Do I constantly complain?
Do I feel isolated and lonely?

While some of these questions might seem irrelevant to the topic at hand, I think they are important to consider as we work on living a simple life.

Picture of a blooming rose with dew droplets on the petals.

Build real friendships:

In our highly industrialized, technologically advanced society where social media and the internet are the new town square, we rarely take the time to go out and talk face to face with the real people in our lives. I’m just as guilty as anyone.

Sitting at home, scrolling social media feels a lot like connecting with people and building friendships, but it’s really not. As humans we were made for community and in-person interaction. When God created humanity, He didn’t just create one person.

Rather, He saw the need for man to be in community, as He Himself is a community of persons. Therefore, He created both a man and a woman.

I know it’s uncomfortable sometimes to step out and try to build real, substantial friendships. It’s not easy to be vulnerable with other people, wondering if they’ll reject you or judge you. But, it is still something worth doing.

Beauty through the imperfections:

Part of the danger of building friendships through social media is how easy it is to cover up our mess making everything appear perfect and clean cut. It’s easy to take a picture of the pristine dinner table, leaving out the sink full of dishes behind us. We have a hard time being real and being honest online.

When we build real friendships, we are forced to be honest in a lot of ways. We can’t just hide behind a screen and only reveal the most perfect parts of ourselves.

In relationships, emotions shine through, exhaustion is obvious, and the imperfections riddling each of our lives has a way of making itself known.

But that’s okay!

That’s the beauty of building real friendships and a community of people around us. We should be helping each other grow together, be it as parents or just people in general.

The more we spend time in the presence of others who are striving to live simple and holy lives, the more we will find ourselves assimilating the virtues they possess and growing ourselves.

Picture of sculpted daisy coffee mug and tea cup sitting on a wooden table with a cream napkin surrounding them.

Emulate the Holy Family:

I think we’d be hard-pressed to try finding a family that exemplified more perfectly the concept of living a simple life than the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Yes, they lived in abject poverty.

However, even amid the lack of material possessions and wealth, they were joyful and content.

When I struggle with finding peace and joy in my life because I feel like I don’t have enough or am behind, I find immense comfort in reflecting on the life of the Holy Family.

Practice/acquire the virtues:

Living a simple life requires, in many ways, being able to live virtuously. For example, if we want to live more frugally, we have to practice the Cardinal Virtues of temperance and prudence.

Temperance in curbing our desire to purchase new things, and prudence to determine when this desire is for a need or a want.

As we grow in specific virtues, we end up elevating each and every virtue we possess. Similarly, if we find ourselves slipping in one virtue, we slip in every virtue. They are all intertwined and feed off each other.

A great place to begin is with the Theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity as well as the Cardinal Virtues of Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice.

A phenomenal book on learning to grow in virtue with practical tips on application is The Art of Living: The Cardinal Virtues and the Freedom to Love by Dr. Edward Sri.

Be frugal:

In the journey of living a simple life, one of the big things we must constantly be on guard against is materialism. Our society is saturated with the idea that if we can just buy this or that we’ll be happy.

We are constantly bombarded with clever marketing that make us feel like we’re missing out if we don’t purchase their product.

And, if that wasn’t bad enough, we constantly find ourselves comparing. It’s hard not to want what others have if we think they have more than us or a prettier (insert anything) than we do.

But, if we are honest with ourselves, fulfillment in life doesn’t come from being able to “keep up with the Jones'” or having the newest Iphone.

It comes down to our relationships and our ability to be content with what we have and the vocation God has called us to, and this is where frugality comes in.

Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is ‘finding his place in it,’ while really it is finding its place in him.

C.S. Lewis – The Screwtape Letters

I’m not saying that unless you live without a TV and make everything from scratch you are failing at frugality. What frugality looks like in each house is going to be different.

A family who has seven children is going to have more ‘things’ than a family with only two children. It’s important that we don’t shame each other or grow judgmental when we think someone isn’t living as frugally as we believe they should.

Picture of a daisy in full bloom with a brick wall behind it.

Have gratitude for the blessings you’ve been given:

One of the biggest impediments of our ability to live simply is the thought that we aren’t making enough or don’t own enough. Essentially, our inability to be grateful for the many blessings God has given us.

If we want to live a simple life, we have to be grateful for each and everything that we have.

If we don’t foster a spirit of thanksgiving, it becomes easy to start comparing and desiring more than we need.

In living simply, we not only practice minimalism in many ways, but we also practice a life of quiet virtue wherein our goal is to become the saints God created us to be.

Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Matt. 19:24

Final Thoughts:

While not easy to begin living a simple life, it is absolutely worth doing. Fulfillment can only come with living close to God. Living close to a God who is simplicity itself.

We’d love to hear about your journey towards living a simple life!