How many of you have wished for the SIMPLE LIFE?
Longed for days NOT filled with demands, stress, complexity. Feeling OVERWHELMED. MAXED OUT. BEYOND MAXED OUT. UNFOCUSED. ARMS PULLING YOU IN ALL DIRECTIONS.
Perhaps that is what vacation can be like. GET AWAY FROM IT ALL.
Although when I go on vacation, I see people with their devices posting all sorts of stuff on their social media for bragging rights. Or noses down in their phones at dinner time. Or on the beach.
What? Not staring out at that amazing sunset? Feeling the gentle warm breeze on your skin?
Checking email from work? Messaging friends NOT with you? Watching Netflix?
Sounds like you’re taking a vacation with your phone, not your loved ones!
But then it all comes rushing back when you arrive home after a long, exhausting flight, and the next morning you roll into work, once again deluged with STRESS, DEMANDS, COMPLEXITY.
What if the SIMPLE LIFE could be every day, all the time?
I have heard of people who have moved away from…normal?… life. They have a place where there is barely cell coverage, utilities. Oops gotta have internet though. Less or no people, traffic, hustle-bustle, noise both aural and visual. Lots of nature. Fresh air. Sun. Grow their own food even.
Would that serve you better?
It would definitely work!
But maybe you’re not quite ready to leave civilization just yet.
Let me propose a different path.
And that is your life NOT filled with STUFF YOU DON’T NEED.
Yep that’s right. You THINK you need all that is going on around you. But you really don’t.
Take stock of everything in your life now. Write it down if you can. Don’t leave anything out! Note every single influence on your life: work, kids, people, partner, social media, devices, news…EVERYTHING little or big. Even your hobbies. Books. A show you absolutely MUST watch every Tuesday evening when it comes out.
Do you see how even waiting for an episode of a show to release on a given day can be taxing to you?
Once you think you’ve got everything, now it’s time to start REMOVING.
Take away anything and everything that is NON-ESSENTIAL.
And no, that show you are waiting for on Tuesdays is NOT ESSENTIAL.
Note your feelings inside, when you try to take something away. WRITE IT DOWN next to each item.
Once you’ve got your cull list, now challenge yourself to start taking them away from your life one by one. Yes GET THEM OUT OF YOUR LIFE.
You are stripping your life down to the bare minimum. BUT NOT LEAVING CIVILIZATION LOL. No need for living on a mountain top. But taking your life down to the BARE ESSENTIALS.
You are SIMPLIFYING YOUR LIFE.
How does your life feel now, rid of the extraneous and unnecessary?
And if you can’t bring yourself to remove something, read your FEELINGS notes next to it. What insight does that bring to you on what has you holding onto it?
Give it a try and leave some comments if you do!
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