This I Believe

I believe in simplicity.

It’s complicated, it’s frustrating, and it’s a journey- its life. The complexities of life had beaten me down to where I took the easy way out for everything. I overlooked notes long enough to barely pass tests. I copied and pasted a few pictures onto a white poster to have a grade in the grade book. As long as I passed was all that mattered.

I looked at life through a dark lens of hardships and complications. Everything felt too hard or took too much effort. And after battling everyday life with this negative outlook, I realized how unhappy I felt. To just get by, wasn’t what life was about. Life is living and getting by is anything but living.

This past summer I took a trip to Oklahoma with my four best friends, my kindred spirits. When I told people that I was taking a vacation to Oklahoma, they would ask, “What’s in Oklahoma?” or look at me blankly and say, “Oh, that’s cool, I guess.” And I thought to myself, “If they only knew.”

I spent an entire seven days at a lake house in Grove, Oklahoma. I would wake up and look forward to what I was going to eat for breakfast. Then after spending the afternoon on the jet ski, boat, in the swimming pool or taking golf car rides I would be excited to find out what choices were available for lunch and dinner. I had never before looked forward to something as simple as what I was going to eat. Everything that I needed was a in that homely neighborhood with a swimming pool two houses down, and a lake that I could jump in whenever I felt like. Life couldn’t get better than that. When I first got back to San Antonio I was discouraged. I wanted to go back and live the “simple life” again. I didn’t want to be back in chaos that I had left behind. Then it hit me; I could make life a simple as I wanted it to be. All these years I had made my life more difficult than it ever needed to be, and I always blamed it on something else.

With the right mindset, I have the power to lead a simple life. And a simple life is a fulfilling life. Life, bare and plain, is fun. I now have the ability to enjoy the natural things in life; what’s already right in front of me. I utilize them because it’s beautiful. I’ve trained my brain to see the positive before the negative, and trust me it makes everything easier. I take what’s in front o me and all around me, using it all to its full potential

Life is great, even during the bad times, because I’m learning and growing through the process of it all. Life is a beautiful adventure that were are lucky to have a chance at. Embracing every second, minute, and hour of it. I’m inspired by life and I can honestly say that since I’ve made this lifestyle change, I have never been more at peace.

Life is as simple as you want it to be. The satisfaction you have from this decision is priceless.