Living with Less

by Carol Hohle

Last night I watched a television program I had taped.  It was a program from Oprah’s show about living with less.  Originally aired on March 2, 2009, “What Can You Live Without? Experiment,” profiled two families who committed for seven days to no shopping, no spending, no wasting.  I confess I was surprised and gratified that Oprah would tackle the subject – after all, her magazine often celebrates a “more is more” attitude towards consumption.

“There has been a huge shift in my thinking. I know that I don’t need the stuff. I know my children don’t need the stuff. All I ever needed was them, and all they ever needed was me. And that’s been the most amazing feeling.”

The program was awesome thanks to the amazing honesty of Candice who during the week-long challenge confronted difficult emotional issues.  She revealed that her husband died in 1997 while saving one of their sons from drowning during a fishing trip. Candice said after his death, she began to spend money as a way to demonstrate her love to her children and to attempt to soothe her own pain.

“I’ve been hiding behind the shoes and the house and the clothes for so long. … Since I lost my husband, it’s all been about masking the pain,” she says. “I didn’t want my friends to see that. I didn’t want my children to see that. I didn’t want them to know that. So I would just keep shopping so I could look good on the outside to cover up what was on the inside.”

With the challenge, Candice said she had light bulb moments beginning on the very first day. “No TV allowed me to sit down with my children and just have a conversation about their day, my day. We had dinner together, and there were no outside distractions,” she says. “There has been a huge shift in my thinking. I know that I don’t need the stuff. I know my children don’t need the stuff. All I ever needed was them, and all they ever needed was me. And that’s been the most amazing feeling.”

The outcome of Candice’s week-long experiment shines like a beacon of hope for so many more of us in the country who are stuck in this “shop and toss” culture!  There is a way out!  This economic recession we are currently experiencing may just be the “recess” from “excess” that we need to give us the fortitude and motivation to fashion a new economic model based on something other than consumption.

I’ve been a recent convert, like Candice, to a “less is actually more” life and have found such joy in its simplicity.  I’ve stopped paying attention to those imaginary “Jones” that I thought I was supposed to keep up with and have simply loved loving the “Jones” that are all around me.  What a treat to get off the consumer escalator!

Are you ready to challenge yourself to live with less?  Try it for a week like Candice.  And … if it helps to get you to keep on track with your commitment – make a public declaration and take Oprah’s Pledge to Simplify Your Life online.