Minimalist living makes us better neighbors

Do you sometimes feel you don't have time to meet your neighbor? Too caught up in the rat race?

Tammy Strobel

Tammy Strobel of RowdyKittens proposes a minimalist lifestyle will help you have more time to KYN. It's not really a matter of time, but it is a way of living, an art-form as she notes: The Art of Community Building.

I am a believer that living simply enriches our life. I thought I was, living more simply than most, that is, but I am still fully caught up in the rat race. "Just keeping up" is the big job now. Before my husband lost his job I had a full life volunteering in community organizations and writing for this blog. But after nearly nine months of unemployment I find I have to let go of the volunteering I enjoyed to take on extra work and make ends meet. I come home at night to see my neighbors lights out. On the rare occasion I bump into them, they ask if I have been away or if I am doing well.

I miss my volunteering life; I miss my neighbors.

So I have been thinking. This is time of reflection for my husband and me. What kind of life do we want going forward? Unemployment will end eventually, can the rat race end too? What about the next setback? Will it derail my community-building again?

I want to preempt that from happening. Reading RowdyKittens helps me to assess our lifestyle. I am thinking more deeply than ever about how I can live more, love more and create more by having and doing less.

For many, the economy has taken a toll and one that may be long-lasting. What changes are you considering to enhance your life going forward?

Comments

[Melissa Adams]

Becoming a minimalist has changed my life in more ways then I can really explain. I would encourage sharing the gospel 1st, then sharing the benefits of living a minimalist life! They do go hand in hand, and each makes you a better person in the other aspects.