5 Simple Pleasures of Old-Fashioned Living

Regular readers will note my long-running fascination with old-fashioned topics. 

For better or worse, I don’t see that changing anytime soon, so hopefully they are enjoyed.

But why is it? What do I find so appealing about the old-school ways of living?

I think one big reason is my natural contrarian streak.

When others zig, I want to zag. When something becomes unpopular, that makes it interesting to me again.

As someone with a blog and a full-time job in IT, you’d think I’d be in love with all things progress—-and while I do have an appreciation, I have an equally strong impulse to push in the opposite direction.

While the modern world is wealthy and full of dazzling breakthroughs, it feels less than satisfying to me. 

It’s kind of like watching a movie with a great sounding plot and good actors, but somehow the script feels flat.

In fact, that’s exactly how I’d describe modern life: flat.

Too many things have been optimized for efficiency and convenience, and now everyday living lacks much of the texture and depth that used to animate our days.

The good news is that we can have the best of both worlds.

We can enjoy the blessings of the 21st century while adding back in as many old-fashioned habits as we want.

That’s what I’ve chosen to do, and in the rest of this post I want to explore what exactly this adds back into my life that was missing.

The satisfaction of doing things with my own hands.

It’s common advice that you should pay people to do things if it’s cheaper than your own time. 

But what this efficiency mindset misses is that it feels good to fix your own stuff.

You develop a connection with the things you fix— the kind of “ownership” that is missing in today’s throwaway society.

Some projects on my plate recently: running 30 feet of new plumbing, fixing our hose spigot, installing a battery backup for our sump pumps, and changing the oil in our car.

While I love building things on a computer, nothing beats the satisfaction of shaping the physical world around me.

The calmness of a mind that isn’t over stimulated.

I used to listen to podcasts whenever I was walking, driving, or mowing the lawn.

It’s a fairly enjoyable way to pass the time.

But then I came to the realization that my mind never really felt at rest, and made the connection that it was probably because I never stopped consuming information.

I sometimes went from working on my computer, to scrolling on my phone, to listening to a podcast, to watching tv in the evenings.

After a few weeks away from podcasts and social media, I can feel my brain coming back to life— more aware of the simple noises of everyday life and more at peace with my own thoughts.

The sweet goodness of seeing my whole family around the table.

One old-fashioned habit I cherish is having a home-cooked meal around the table with my family.

Nearly every evening at 6pm, my family of six converges from the different rooms of our home and joins each other at the kitchen table.

Hot food is carried from the stove to our plates and we join hands for a prayer of thanksgiving.

Then we eat and talk and laugh, but most of all I try to take it all in. 

These are the good ol’ days, I tell myself. And I capture a mental snapshot to savor as long as I can.

The comforting rhythm of changing seasons.

I love the fact that every three months a brand new season is ushered in. 

It’s a process of constant change that exists within a comforting and familiar annual cycle.

But we’re not nearly as connected to the seasonality of life as previous generations, a fact that detaches us from the natural world and blends each day into the other.

In our own family, we do some things that reconnect us: 

• We get outside everyday
• We open the windows as often as we can
• We let the indoor temperature be warmer in the summer, and colder in the winter
• We pick local produce when it’s in season
• We mark the seasons with celebration and festive meals

The beauty of surrounding myself with stacks of books.

Even though I love blogs, and occasionally read on a Kindle, I will never give up my first love of real, physical books.

There is magic in the feel and smell of a book, and I can’t be convinced otherwise.

I think the modern world needs to reach back in time, and find more ways to reenchange our everyday life like this.

When you read on a computer, you get the sense that everything known has already been said, and there is no end to the world’s knowledge.

But a book is something simpler— it doesn’t make you think of everything all at once, only the words on the page and the pleasures contained between them.

For those reasons, I just enjoy having books around me.

I keep a few large piles around the floor of my nightstand, and sprinkle old and beautiful books around our home as decor.

This kind of old-fashioned beauty is cheap and available to anyone.