Laura Ingalls Wilder on Simplicity and Clutter in Life

My mother-in-law delighted me for Christmas with a two volume set of Writings to Young Women: On Wisdom & Virtuesby Laura Ingalls Wilder. Because of its short essay format, it is the perfect read while nursing Little Queen down for a nap or to clear my mind at bed time. I have always been struck by the timelessness of Mrs. Wilder's stories and, it seems, her words of advice to young women are equally as pertinent today. Since I recently wrote about my desire to use this year to simplify our lives by removing excess things and activities from our lives, I was particularly struck by how much Mrs. Wilder wrote on these very topics even 90 years ago.

In July of 1919 she wrote an essay entitled, "Simplify, Simplify" in which she observes, "The world is full of so many things, so many of them useless, so many, many varieties of the same thing creating confusion and a feeling of being overwhelmed by their number. It would be a wonderful relief if, by eliminating both wisely and well, life might be simplified." How ever more true now than in 1919.

And then in January, 1924, Laura penned a lovely entry under the title, "The Things That Matter." Here are a couple of snippets:

We are so overwhelmed with things these days that our lives are all, more or less, cluttered. I believe it is this, rather than a shortness of time, that gives us that feeling of hurry and almost of helplessness. Everyone is hurrying and usually just a little late.

...Here is a New Year's resolution for us all to make: To simplify our lives as much as possible, to overcome that feeling of haste by remembering that there are just as many hours in the day as ever, and that there is time enough for the things that matter if time is rightly used.

Sage and timeless advice, indeed.