Sallie has been writing lately about the choices we’ve made to simplify our lives. One of the consequences was presented to me in an episode that happened this week when I was out visiting one of our business clients. Since I was on the south side of town for the meeting, I was near a new freeway that had opened up earlier this year. My curiosity about trying it out was piqued so I decided to use it as an alternate way to get home.

It was interesting for a few moments to see my former stomping grounds from the high-speed route that had been created through it. But then a feeling of being overwhelmed started to come over me as I approached the exit to leave the new freeway and head north on the established freeway. The sense of traveling at high speeds and negotiating heavy traffic was starting to get to me and I still had another ten miles to go, through downtown no less.

This was the first time in several months that I had been on a freeway for more than a few minutes. Occasionally we use one of the local freeways to get from a relatively close point A to point B, but this was a longer drive than usual. Several years ago I lived on the south side and had a half-hour freeway commute to my job on the north side. Now since I’m self-employed and work at home I rarely use the urban freeways anymore. It’s amazing how I’m no longer desensitized to highway stress.

This also applies to movie theaters. Sallie and I have only seen a few movies in theaters over the last several years, primarily because most of what Hollywood comes out with has been pretty worthless. If it seems worth seeing, we would rather rent the DVD later and watch it at home (and pay less).

We decided to see Princess Diaries 2 last year in the theaters. We thought the first movie was cute and fun and it would be neat to see the sequel. During the film we both felt overwhelmed by the experience. The large theater with the huge crowd, the loud volume and the constant movement on a huge screen made it an unpleasant experience. (Not to mention the fact that the film wound up coming across as a propaganda film for feminism–all that was missing was a bra-burning scene at the end, but I digress.)

It’s amazing what happens when we remove ourselves from the noise and clutter of certain activities, whether by choice or by life circumstances removing us from them. We don’t realize how much activity and noise we tolerate in our lives. These two incidents are reminders to me of how much the changes we’ve made have affected us and have made us more sensitive in the best sense of the word.

I enjoy my peaceful life and my 15-second commute upstairs.