It started out as an easy exercise. To replace my old bed. When I bought that bed I just ordered it over the phone without ever seeing it. I have been happy with it for over a decade.

My partner went to the local bed shop and told me later I would need to go and try out the beds.

This seemed ridiculous a bed is a bed. I mean isn't it just a choice between a hard and a soft mattress, between a double or a queen size bed. As soon as I walked in the shop I was overwhelmed by the number of beds and the wide variety. Who knew? There were memory, microfibre, European, Latex, anti-gravity, chiropractic, Eco Touch, Posture, Spine Aligner, pocket sprung, open coil, orthopaedic.

That was just the mattresses. The pillows have so many varieties too, foam,(why is it that the only thing I have that has memory is foam?) latex, gel infused memory foam, feathers, organic cotton, bamboo pillow, and there are different shapes and sizes. Both pillows and beds come in soft medium and hard and extra soft and extra hard.

When did life become so complicated? When did there become so many choices for simple items? Once bread was either sliced or unsliced brown or white bread. Now there are so many varieties they fill a whole aisle in the supermarket. Shampoo was once for dry or normal hair, now the special ingredients read like a grocery list or a chemists prescription.

Even in the world of learning to de-stress, nothing is simple. There are so many options to help us unwind, relax and to become calm. To name a few: there is mindfulness, yoga, meditation, positive thinking, breathing techniques, and so many more. There is a plethora of books, experts and music to choose from.

Television and radio used to have few channels where now there are so many both free to air and Paytv, AM, FM, digital as well as option to listen and watch online at a convenient time.

Choices have brought variety to our lives but sometimes I yearn for a simpler life and simple solutions. Am I sounding like a grumpy old woman? I do like much of what technology and choices have given me but there is a movement to go back to a simpler time even in a small way. Many young people prefer vinyl records and record players are being manufactured again. People make their own soap, their own bread, their own shampoo.

I would like you to contribute any simple ideas on any subject that makes your life easier.

So let us appreciate the little things, the simple things in life.

Leah

A Moodscope Member.