I think I am finally at the point in my life that I am ready to put the concept of “Simplify” more fully into my daily life. All these years of collecting things with that word in them is finally culminating into action.

Keep things simple

That is where happiness comes from.

Until recently, I have always looked to the future to try to discover what would make me happy. Now, I have finally learned that happiness has always been hiding just around the corner in my neighborhood. I don’t have to travel to the other side of the world to find it. I don’t have to strip myself of everything I currently have, to get it.

These thoughts have brought to mind all those “House Hunters” TV episodes where people relocated thousands of miles away to find a simpler, less stressful, happier life. That seems to be a common theme throughout those multi-year series. They just don’t see the possibility of simplifying where they are to obtain a happy life. Until recently, I really didn’t, either.

My constant dreaming throughout my life has been a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it gave me some adventures that I might not have otherwise had. But, it has also prevented me from finding the happiness that has always been around me.I know others, especially my late wife, who tried to convince me to just “smell the roses”, but I couldn’t see that as a source for happiness.

I was for the most part happy when I was in the corporate world. I was surrounded by people who appreciated my contributions, and even admired me for the things that made me “different”. When I retired, my world shrank enormously. It took me years to understand a new definition of happiness. I have discovered that for me, simplicity and happiness are almost directly linked.

A critical part of my getting in touch with happiness was getting back in touch with others. For the last decade my wife, for mainly health reasons, became a serious recluse. She simply withdrew into just a few basic ingredients in her life. I followed her out of a commitment to our marriage. About the only people in our house during those years were repair people we paid to be there. With her death almost five months ago, I was tossed back into the humanity pool. I now have hundreds of people I casually interface with daily. To me, that seemed like a “sink or swim” thing. Thank goodness I still remembered how to swim, at least in the shallow end of the pool.

I am getting better as each day passes and happiness is, once again, starting to bloom within me. I hope in the months to come that people around me now will see me for who I am and appreciate my differences and what I can contribute to this community. I hope some can become more than just “waving” friends.

I, due to my afflictions, will never be and talented swimmer, but maybe I will once again be part of the swim team of life.