Internet relationships

Catherine: What a great post! I love the word "aspirant," instead of "wanna-be," which is how I sometimes describe myself. For all my still somewhat spendy ways, I have really come a long way from where I used to be and this Forum has helped me tremendously. I see simple living as a spectrum, and it's OK for us to be at different points along it. I don't think I'll ever be the ultimate simple liver, nor do I necessarily want to be. But the lessons I've learned about being more mindful, thinking about what I really want from life and how to get there, how dollars translate to the finite hours of my life, these are helping me live a better life already.
I too welcome Packy's contributions to the Forum, even if he doesn't have the good sense to enjoy the music of the Grateful Dead. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by catherine

...Please try to see the many threads that ARE simple living related--all the great budgeting threads, cheap food threads, small house threads, etc. etc. There are tons of them. That being said, I'm going to try to start more voluntary simplicity threads because that's our reason for being here. I have so many books I can' simply pull out a quote that we can discuss perhaps. I don't want anyone on this forum to feel they have to run off or want to run off--including you, Packy.

Hope that helps you some.

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Thankkk youuu!

I feel as if I'm coming from the other end of it. My life is much more complicated now, and my espoused values have been ... spoused, shall I say. I miss the extremes of VS 'purity' and the discussion of radical simplicity, sometimes I'm very angry about the shift of my life, but I also find it very comforting to be around people who've made peace with their less than simple lives and move toward simplicity in small steps. I think I learn just as much from people who are on the journey than those who have arrived.