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I often think of how different the world is right now, in my midlife, as compared to what it was like in my mother’s midlife. One huge difference between these generations is electricity. At this time in my life and in the history of mankind, we use electricity for many things!

Almost too many things, one could say, if you feel a longing for a simpler life.

The insight I had recently was during an ice storm, when I woke up to a day without electricity. We had sleet and freezing rain, and all the trees were heavy with ice. The frosted look was beautiful, but the price for that splendor can be downed branches and tree limbs. The poor evergreens were heavy with ice-laden branches, and tree limbs just snapped and lay strewn across the lawn.

At first thought I think that the electric being off is not the worst thing that can happen. And, it is not the worst thing. But to try to find something to do that does not use electricity and one finds that their list of possible activities does not seem long at all.

What I found most interesting was that I had to really think long and hard about what I could do.

All my “usual” activities involved the use of electricity; this includes my use of the computer, radio or music playing, television, cooking and many other activities. Essentials come down to the use of water, which does empty the water tank quite quickly by normal use. The water pump is run by electric, which is how our water tank is filled. That could eventually impact use of the toilet.

Yikes!

There is no using the computer without electricity. I couldn’t take a shower, because I didn’t want to run out of water and it would be icy cold! I couldn’t wash my hair, to get rid of the bed head look, and I couldn’t make coffee. I have to remind myself to get a coffee pot that I can just perk on the gas burners. Without the electric to make a spark I do have to light the burners with a match in order spark the start of the flame.

This isn’t complaining as much as it is a realization for me that I need to add some interests to my life that are more basic and not dependant on electric. I just don’t think that life as my mother knew it came to a total standstill for the period of time during the outage of electric. The irony of progress may demonstrate a lost art of a more resourceful way of living life before technology and electric.