OMG: I Have a Simpler Life! by Victoria Moran

I wrote this collection of yearnings — more space, more time, more ease — several years ago. After fourteen months of imposed isolation, a lot of them have come to pass. Maybe that’s a lesson in “watch out for what you ask for.” It’s not a clean sweep — I haven’t spent more time with people and I have more email than ever — but my life is simpler, and a great deal of that I want to hold onto. What do you want for your life? How has the past year affected that?

I’m striving for a life with less stuff in it. I want everything in my home to either do something or mean something.

And while divesting, why not toss some intangibles and be left with fewer passwords to wrangle and fewer demands that don’t fall under the rubric “life’s work”?

I envision a day with less email and the nerve not to answer it if I don’t feel like it, and maybe not even open it. I’ve heard some people do that, but I can’t imagine being one of them. Maybe that comes from too much Catholic school.

I want a clearer calendar and a shorter tax return.

And to divest from my wardrobe any garment that has “sweat” as its first syllable.

I relish the thought of knowing less about politicians and more about life and meaning, to immerse myself in the sacred and be choosy about the profane.

I crave the chance to do more work that matters and less that spins my wheels.

I wish days could be longer so I wouldn’t have to choose between meditation and writing in my journal, between yoga and the gym; long, delicious days for making dinner from scratch and writing with a pen. Days like that would put empty spaces in my life so if some delectable opportunity showed up, there would be a place for her to sit.

I want more time to spend with my dog, and with the people I love and the ones I find interesting. I yearn to live my life profoundly in the present moment and not strive to reach so many goals unless I should one day take up hockey.

 

 

Victoria Moran is a writer, a vegan, and a lifelong student of yoga.

She loves books and animals and just this week wrote in a cafe for the first time in ages. Check out her contribution to this collection of vegan experts’ dishing on “Moving Towards a Vegan Lifestyle at Home.”