For most people, “simple” presents no difficulty. Here’s a definition by the Cambridge dictionary:
Simple: easy to understand or do; not difficult.
But simple isn’t always easy. Not so long ago, I cleaned houses for a living. I cleaned all kinds of houses, including student apartments, ex-pat houses, and Airbnbs. You may be surprised to know that the places I enjoyed cleaning the most were the messiest—those with toys on the floor and layers of dust on window sails. Whenever I landed a job interview to clean a house, I analyzed the house to see if it was a good fit for me. Dishes in the sink were generally a good sign. When a house had no trace of dust, I worried.
When you’re hired to clean a polished house, you have to show what you’re made of. You have to look for small marks or stains no one but the owner of the house can see, like dust on light switches, or grease on the fridge door. I didn’t like cleaning neat houses because they took longer to clean. Also, it was more difficult to appreciate my work. Sure, the owner of the house could tell if I had wiped the fingerprints on the fridge doors, but if you visited the house before and after cleaning, you would not find a difference. On the other hand, when I cleaned a messy house, I knew exactly what to do because dirt was all over the place, and a three-hour cleaning session flew by. What’s more, bringing order to the chaos provided tremendous satisfaction.
Here’s a little secret: it’s the same with my art. I suffer when I do “simple” or easy. Take this illustration for example, you might think that the sash Queen Máxima is wearing over her shoulder was the easiest to draw. But it was the most difficult! Even though it’s a couple of yellow and blue lines, you have to be precise when drawing them, ensuring they’re not skewed or mixed. Otherwise, you’d end up getting an undesired green color. It’s easy for me to draw eyes, hair, and wrinkles. But don’t make me draw a couple of lines!
Here’s the thing: knowing that simple isn’t always easy makes me want to do hard things. I would rather do ten minutes of HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) than ten minutes of yoga. The message I’m trying to convey here is that we underestimate simple/easy things. Sometimes the simple things are the most difficult to do, like taking a moment of your day to pause—no mindless scrolling through your Instagram feed, but really taking a moment to be still and do nothing. Like illustrator Tom Froese says:
“Simplicity is deceivingly complicated.”
What are some things people consider simple and/or easy but are difficult for you? Tell me in the comments.