| Our Lord inspired me to write this article to offer | | | | harder by virtue of the fact that we are required to |
| practical ways to let off steam without adverse | | | | take care of the devices we use to "save" time! |
| effects. | | | | As an example, take the dishwasher. Unless you |
| Oddly, one of the first things that came to me was | | | | have a large family or entertain a lot, I would suggest |
| to eliminate any feeling that some of us might have | | | | that you wash your dishes by hand as you go along. |
| to feel pressured to be "in style." Think about it. Most | | | | Otherwise, most of your dishes end up in the |
| of the time, being "in style" causes people to look | | | | dishwasher, either clean or dirty, when you want |
| ridiculous. | | | | them. And it takes a lot of time to load and unload |
| I mean it causes older people trying to look young | | | | the thing. Plus, unless you practically wash them to |
| again to become laughingstocks. It causes younger | | | | begin with, they rarely all get clean. Why not just |
| people a lot of mental and financial pressure trying to | | | | simplify this small task, not let them build up, and if |
| maintain stylishness. And it causes overweight people | | | | you use a natural soap, your hands will benefit as |
| to look even more so! | | | | well. |
| Years ago I also was caught in this same web. One | | | | Next, if you have young children, don't run yourself |
| year the hemlines were around the ankle, the next | | | | ragged trying to juggle impossible schedules of |
| around mid-thigh. I was a single mother, and funds | | | | running from game to game to dance lessons to |
| were tight, to say the least. | | | | music lessons to karate lessons to |
| Thank God, one day I woke up and realized the | | | | this-that-and-the-other-thing. |
| ludicrousness of the situation. I simply got tired of | | | | I remember one mother (years ago when I was |
| jumping to the whims of the manufacturers (who | | | | chauffeuring my own kids around) who had four |
| could not have cared less how I looked), whose sole | | | | children, all four of whom were on different baseball |
| purpose was profit. | | | | teams. She never actually had time to watch a whole |
| I had had training about ten years earlier in the skills | | | | game and enjoy it, because she had to keep running |
| of charm and modelling, which had included learning | | | | to and fro picking up and delivering, etc. She was |
| the styles which optimized my particular build. But, | | | | always frazzled, to say the least. |
| yielding to the pressures of fashion (and succumbing | | | | And the kids themselves end up having frantic lives |
| to my naiveté), I had abandoned those tried | | | | and never get to enjoy being kids. School is |
| and true principles for what everyone else was | | | | structured enough for them, without regimenting the |
| wearing. Duh! | | | | rest of their time! Back in the "dinosaur" days, |
| Finally, when I realized how expensive this habit of | | | | Summer days were long, lazy, and relaxed. We |
| having to have the "latest" really was, I determined | | | | seemed to have all the time in the world, and |
| that I would no longer be a victim of someone else's | | | | Summer vacation was three whole months long. |
| profit margin. | | | | Today my grandchildren are lucky if they are out of |
| Ever since, I have invested only in quality clothing | | | | school by the second week in June and have to go |
| that is particularly suitable for my figure, frame, and | | | | back around the second or third week in August! |
| lifestyle. As a result, my clothes are classics that are | | | | Add to all of this the running to and fro among |
| always in style and appropriate for me. | | | | parents, step-parents, babysitters, day care centers, |
| This is one pressure relief valve that is no longer | | | | and it just becomes overwhelming at times. |
| needed! | | | | It's bad enough when we adults do not take time to |
| The second valve that needs to be opened in many | | | | smell the roses, but our kids don't even seem to |
| lives is taking back those lives. Fifty years ago life | | | | have enough time to learn what roses are! |
| was a lot simpler (and a whole lot easier). Many of | | | | I believe that Henry David Thoreau gave the best |
| the "labor saving" devices we have today had not | | | | advice that anyone could hear many years ago: |
| even been conceived then. And I'm not so sure that | | | | "Simplify, simplify. |
| they do save labor . . . they may even make life a lot | | | | |