Kierkegaard on the Need to Simplify

Søren Kierkegaard said, “One is weary of eating on porcelain and eats on silver; wearying of that, one eats on Gold.”

Often, we invite alternatives in our life not because we want the best option, but only that we’re bored with what we are doing. We are bored, not due to lack of choices but rather because we are not content with ourselves. We feel that we are missing out on something. We compare what we are doing with what others are doing. We compare what we have with what others have. We presume it would give us more joy to do the things that they are doing or have the things that they have.

The reality is never so.

When stripped of our fears—of missing out, not being enough or that the grass is always greener on the other side—we start seeing the actual truth.

What works for others doesn’t necessarily work for us. What we truly want is often a million miles away from another wants. But first, we must see through the fog of our fears that we have nurtured over many years.

Kierkegaard continues, “The more a person limits himself, the more resourceful he becomes.”

One way of reducing fears is to reduce the number of things, thoughts and decisions we need to make.

Let’s simplify our lives and throw away what we don’t use, need or think we need.

Let’s become lighter, leaner and more simplistic.