Voluntary Simplicity

For a year I have practiced voluntary simplicity. I gave up my beautiful new car and all its luxuries to spent one full year on foot and public transportation. One year despite the difficulty, the akwardness, the inconveinince, the criticism and the unexpected judement I incured.

I gained and lost a relationship and borrowed other people cars for the subsequent moves involved. I walked alot and discovered the joy of urban hikes. I learned to love the weather even in the challenge it presented in lugging dog food home on the bus.

I learned to be alone with myself in a way many people never do, alone in a crowd, alone in my mind, alone even in my intimate relationships. I learned to find and face deeper issues in myself that my previous lifestyle had allowed me to push under the rug all to easily.

I came to value the walk that comprised my morning commute the way some people loathe their own 20 minutes trapped in traffic. The smell of the air, the feel of the sun and wind, the sights of local domesticated and wild life, all filled my heart along with my senses. I felt a daily connection to life and the larger community that was not possible or even noticable from behind the safety glass of a vehical