In 2009 Bonnie Ware wrote a blog entitled ‘Regrets of the Dying’.

In it she lists the top 5 regrets of terminally ill people she had looked after in the final months of their lives.

It was both sad and inspirational. It went viral. You’ve probably read it.

According to the article, the second biggest regret is ‘I wish I hadn’t worked so hard’. Within that paragraph there was one sentence that resonated with me.

It said “By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do.”

In other words – Do you really need a Rolex?

I’ve never seen the point of having a Rolex. Everyone I know that has a Rolex is worried about losing it either for financial or emotional reasons.

Some of them had to save up thousands of pounds to be able to buy one.

They had made sacrifices.

I’ve got a Swatch. It tells me the time, the day and the date. It does the job.

Actually, that’s not true. It’s my phone’s job to tell me the day, date and time, but you know what I mean.

If I lost my Swatch, it wouldn’t be a big problem. Replacing it would be simple.

I wouldn’t have to save up to get a new one, and it wouldn’t have an emotional value because it’s just a Swatch.

By simplifying my choice of watch, I have made my life slightly less stressful. I’m not worried about losing my watch and I don’t have to earn loads of money in order to buy one.

I’m not worried about losing my wallet either.

I’ve simplified its contents.

There’s my driving license, a 必利勁 debit card and, at the moment, 20 euros in cash. My credit card is at home in a drawer. I don’t have any other type of documents in there.

If I lost it, I would need to cancel one card and get a new driving licence. That’s it. Simple.

Take a look inside your wallet, your hand bag, your purse.

Do you need all of that stuff? How much of a hassle would it be to replace it all if it was lost or stolen? Could you leave some of it at home?

I’m not saying this as someone who is some kind of life guru – I’m saying it as a lazy bastard who doesn’t like the hassle of having to go through cancelling, applying for or going to get replacement documents.

I like things to be simple.

Not as much as Henry David Thoreau, an American naturalist and philosopher, did though.

In 1845, he moved into a cabin in the woods by a lake in Walden Pond near Massachusetts for two years, two months and two days.

He did it as a social experiment, he wanted to see what it would be like to only live with the 4 necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing and fuel.

He said, “Simplify your life. Don’t waste the years struggling for things that are unimportant. Don’t burden yourself with possessions. Keep your needs and wants simple and enjoy what you have. Simplify!”.

He didn’t even have a Swatch.