Simplicity

What is this?

"Don't talk to me until I've had my morning coffee" - someone, unfortunately. Something I notice living in the 21st-century United States is that we are so dependent upon many things.

"I can't sleep unless ...", "I need to be listening to music or ...", "I can't leave the house without my ...". The reality is, if we were forced to, we could live without these things. So why do we burden ourselves and add extra needs?

Now, if you are the kind of person who needs their morning coffee or whatever else you need, I don't mind whatsoever. You have the freedom to live your life however you want, you don't have to listen to me. Just FYI I will likely challenge this way of thinking and more in this post.

Ok, Let's Get Started (スタート）

My First Memorable Success

Ever since I was in high school, I've made an effort to be dependent on as little as possible. Not from a, "I want to be 'strong'" mindset, but rather, "I don't want to suffer without these things anymore" mindset. One thing in particular I can remember is chapstick. When I was a junior in high school, I started using chapstick (that winter I must have had dry lips). Even after the winter passed, my dry lips never went away. I literally had to always keep a chapstick in my pocket, wherever I went. If I didn't have it, I would be absolutely miserable. I applied it multiple times a day.

Eventually I went to a youth conference, and I didn't have any chapstick with me, and no way to get some, so I had to tough it out for the week. It was hard, but I made it 😤. When I got back home, I realized my lips were perfectly fine without any chapstick. I was free!

Really Bro?

Though chapstick may seem trivial to you, I no longer feel weight of "where's my chapstick? 😨". We don't realize it, but we feel these "weights" all the time. Even if you never miss a coffee, you subconsciously have this emotional attachment and need for it, which likely causes harm in a way you may be afraid to admit (for avid coffee enjoyers, I'm sorry, it's just an easy example).

We already have real needs, and we intentionally add more onto our plate? What?! Why? We're just causing more trouble for ourselves. We're literally making life harder.

As we continue to go even deeper, I just want you to be thinking about this. What "needs" do you have that are causing you more harm than good? I'd imagine there's something.

Accepting Defeat?

One other quick thing: I want to be fair; I have some unnecessary "needs" I have come to accept; I'll share them:

1. Lotion
   If you've known me for a while, you probably know that I put on lotion every day, often multiple times a day. I have really dry skin, and I actually feel horrible without it. I've tried surviving without it, but I haven't succeeded.
2. Showers
   I've got to shower every day. I feel so off when I don't shower, it's unbearable. Yes, obviously I have gone days where I don't shower, but it's never a good time. I shower on Christmas 😳.

...actually, this is all that I can think of. I feel like if everything else were to be taken away I'd manage, but I would actually be so distraught if I could not have lotion and showers. If you know me and you're like "Koby you forgot about ______" I'll accept.

A Major Change For Me

I believe that life is inherently enjoyable. God has created so many great things for us to enjoy. Even though we all must toil in some way to live, there is great satisfaction to be found in hard work. Think of how good it feels to drink water on a hot day, or when you hear that one song, or when you see a loved one for the first time in a long time. These feelings are inherently part of the human experience, and inherently wonderful.

Dopamine

Of course, you've got to mention dopamine when you talk about enjoyment.

The reason these things are wonderful is because God created our brains with a reward system that uses "dopamine" to make things enjoyable. Dopamine is the chemical that fires whenever we experience something good. It is the basis for human motivation and enjoyment.

Everyone has a baseline level of dopamine, that goes up and down as things happen to us. If you have a higher baseline, you will be happier and more motivated, a lower baseline, you will feel more lethargic and purposeless. The amount of dopamine we give ourselves on a routine basis affects our baseline.

(Yes, there are spiritual realities at play as well, but our bodies and spirits are more intertwined than you might think).

Easy Target: Smartphones

Smartphones are designed to be attention grabbing (brain stimulating). They've got bright colors, make sounds and vibrate, are really snappy and quick to use. They are proven to elicit extremely high levels of dopamine, causing desensitization to stimulation and a significant drop in your dopamine baseline.

This is not just an "oh haha that's crazy 😜"; this is a reality that tons and tons of people are experiencing, making life as a whole seem dim and grey, when in reality, God made it beautiful.

Like seriously, just take a pause and think about this for a moment.

My Recent Success

I used to be an avid smartphone user. I mean avid bro. Like 4-8 hours on my phone every single day. Watching YouTube, listening to Spotify, texting everyone in the world, checking my emails when no one was texting me (🥺). All the stuff. I remember one time I had to do laundry, and I literally couldn't start until I picked the right YouTube video. It took me longer to pick a video than it did to just do the laundry - a clear sign of addiction.

Somehow, by the grace of God, I learned about the "dumbphone" world. I'm not even sure how, or why, but I got so into it. I read everything I could about it and eventually bought a Kyocera Digno Keitai 3 902kc on Ebay. This phone was awesome - so novel, and so limiting.

I immediately had to come to terms with how inconvenient everything was. This phone didn't even have copy and paste. What was I going to do on the bus now? What about when I'm waiting in line at the grocery store? Honestly, I got used to these things. I even enjoy them now. I enjoy that I have spare moments where I just have to be there. I am thankful for the moments I am just bored. And honestly, I would prefer to keep things this way. I don't want to need YouTube.

Just dumbing down my phone made life significantly simpler and significantly better. It's my first spring with a dumbphone as I write this, and I can't get over how beautiful the birds sound. For some reason, I haven't ever noticed them in the past few years, but I am filled with joy each morning as I hear them. Music has never sounded as good as it does these days (this could be a whole new post). I am able to eat my food with nothing else going on. Vanilla life is just better 😊.

Last Callouts

Experiencing More

The point of simplicity is to open us up to experience life even more, rather than to abstain from its pleasures. Without my smartphone, I enjoy the sun, time with friends, driving, grocery shopping, more than I ever have before.

So, you might not believe me, but I believe we can experience life even more when we aren't bound by these unnecessary needs.

Some Nuance

Now, you might be surprised to know that I make a coffee almost every morning. Before you start thinking about the hypocrite I am (having mentioned coffee in a negative light a few times) I don't drink due to a need for caffeine; I just thoroughly enjoy the whole process: grinding the beans, pulling the espresso shot, and drinking it with the morning silence.

Certainly, there can be things we do every day, or "extra things", that aren't necessarily needs but things that cause us to glorify God. When I take that first sip of coffee, I am so thankful to God. For you, there might be pleasant rituals you take part in, not by compulsion, but by choice, and I think that's wonderful.

In this post I mainly am trying to highlight the things we feel like we have to do - things which could be crushing us instead.

Other Things I Do

As I mentioned, I don't use chapstick. Here are some more unique things I do:

• I don't use shampoo. I haven't used it for a few months now. My hair always has the perfect amount of natural oils.
• I have barefoot shoes. God designed our feet to be perfect on their own, so I got some barefoot shoes, and my feet never hurt anymore. I really love them!
• I try to listen to music, rather than just having it on in the background. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but music is pretty interesting on its own! Maybe try it sometime.

I'm sure there are other things, but you get the gist 😉.

So, what about it?

Well, are you happy that you "need" so many things? Do you want to live in bondage to your white noise machine? Your hokas? That one TV show? You certainly may, though I hope you'll at least consider what you're intentionally choosing to be enslaved to. If you're crazy, you might even want to try the dumbphone life. It's 1000% worth it.

"All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything." - 1 Corinthians 6:12

Thank you, Lord, for this glorious world you have created.