Every Wednesday, I’ll (try) to post up a Simple Living Tip, with an emphasis on tips that can be done while living a more traditional 9-to-5 life.
I wonder if there’s a certain age when people gravitate toward simpler things in life. While there are certainly many young people who are mature and goal-oriented, even to the point of seeming “wiser than their years”, most simple-life seekers seem older. I even know Type A go-getters who crave a simpler life as they hit their 30s or 40s. It may not even be the age but where the person is in life (married or not, children or not, property owners or not, secured job/career or not etc..).
Anyway as I mulled over this, I started thinking that it’s okay, even better, to have a messy, complicated youth — where you date the “wrong” people, don’t plan your vacations well, waste too much time with frenemies, and even make money mistakes. Youth is the time to explore and take the harder road sometimes. Even if an “older, wiser” person suggests an easier path, many people need to learn the hard way and with first-hand experiences.
Travel is one of the first things that comes to my mind. I wasn’t the best travel planner and I did not do guided tours. Instead I wasted time getting lost, figuring out sights to see once I got there, and made detours. I look back and think I should have read better guidebooks and planned better but maybe I needed complications back then.
So I guess this is sort of an ode to dumb youthful mistakes and taking the roundabout route instead of the simpler straightforward path, until you get older and it’s not so fun anymore!
Feel free to share your youthful mistakes!
