Author advises ‘simplicity revolution’

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Author Sue Schell wrote the book "A Simplicity Revolution". photographed in her home in Evanston on 1/10/12. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media

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Updated: February 20, 2012 9:11AM

If you’re working longer but taking home less, are overextended on your credit and still looking to acquire more “stuff,” you may be a candidate for a simplicity revolution, says an Evanston author who advocates a return to simpler living.

Sue Schell, a longtime Evanston resident and free-lance writer is the author of the plucky new book – “A Simplicity Revolution: Finding Happiness in the New Reality.”

She believes a simpler lifestyle will prove the silver lining arising from the Great Recession from which Americans are emerging.

“It’s amazing how improved a person’s quality of life can be, just by simplifying some of our daily lifestyle habits and thereby avoiding stressful situations,” she said.

Schell, 55, a former journalist and one-time legislative aide to former Gov. Jim Thompson, said her awakening resulted from the worsening economy and from what she was seeing around her.

Want more from life

First, “the economy was tanking,” she said. Then, in her own circle of friends, “people were recognizing that there was more to life than working hard for the money, only to be spending it as fast as it came in,” she said in her lively written commentary. “I wanted to believe that people were recognizing that having their life rooted in relationships and not just purchased stuff was a much more fulfilling way to live. It was as if you could almost hear people calling out, “enough, enough.”

She said some of the pain resulted from Americans’ desire to “supersize their lives more than warranted by their paychecks.”

On top of the anxiety, America was getting hit by the worst banking crisis in U.S. history since the Great Depression.

“We had grown to assume that our banks, our investment houses, and our very own government was just too big to fail,” she wrote. “But to our amazement some of them did.”

In her book, Schell points to the ever-growing disparity in our income and lifestyles, a recipe for social unrest.

Two weeks after the book came out, a movement called Occupy Wall Street started, where some of those issues proved central to the protest, she said.

In her research, Schell said she could see the downward mobility becoming an ever-shortening fuse leading to people feeling more and more frustrated.

Some key advice

Her way out is twofold. On the personal front, she advocates greener living, greater fiscal discipline and placing greater emphasis on family and interpersonal relations.

She lists strategies people can take month-by-month to live simpler (and cheaper). January is a good time to start taking advantage of all the free services offered by the library, she said. In March, “retailers will be getting rid of winter clothing, so buy a new winter coat or boots during that time.”

She offers simple strategies for dealing with stress.

“Always remember the greatest gift you can give to a complete stranger is a smile. When I smile at someone and that person smiles back at me, I immediately forget my own pain or problems,” she says.

On a more global level, Schell puts on her Democratic activist hat (one of her memos served as a blueprint for the local party on how to approach voters on grass-roots issues in the 2008 Barack Obama election) and calls on corporations on down to adopt a “best self” approach.

Thoughts for firms

“Corporations made up of best selves will provide jobs right here in America paying living wages to American workers in today’s work force to work in the competitive jobs of tomorrow, and budge a bit on the bottom line to avoid layoffs,” she wrote.

“Best selves in the banking industry will keep the customer in mind and clearly explain the tiny print.”

As for the rest of us, “our best selves will simplify our lifestyles, focusing on what is important in the long run and thinking twice (or more) when tempted to accumulate stuff.

“When our best selves keep homes that focus on family and friends rather than on furnishings, for example, just think of how much simpler our lives will be,” she said.

A Simplicity Revolution, Finding Happiness in the New Reality may be found on amazon.com.