In this busy world that we live in, with a culture that is so obsessed with being constantly on the go, accumulating more, and pushing yourself harder, it is time to step back and rethink what an enjoyable life is. On my journey to simple living, I have moved to a job that is less demanding, simplified, and decluttered my home, and have learned new ways to live simply. While I have chosen to move to a less demanding job, I am not suggesting that everyone should do this, but rather that was a decision that I thought about for a long time, and when I was ready, I made the move at a time that I was financially able to and mentally in a place where the move made sense.
Planning for a simple life in my opinion is a process, a lifestyle change and it is something that takes time to do. While there are things that you can do such as making a new budget, decluttering your home, and starting to say no to things, planning a simple life is also something that you need to be prepared mentally to commit to it. For me, it was a change in my health that helped me to decide to move into a simpler life. While this might not be the case for everyone, and some people might be able to move into a simple life easier than others. This all depends on your current circumstances and commitments.
Planning for the Move
When moving into a simple life the first thing you need to do is take an inventory or what you need to do change or would like to change. This can be something as simple as decreasing the amount of technology you use, decluttering your home, to making a career change. When you are ready to plan, you should do a visualization of what you want your life to look like. This can be as simple as writing out what you want or even making a vision board of what you feel would be your ideal simple life. The main idea is to get a concept of what you think your life should look like then plan to get there.
Once you have your visualization of what your life should look like begin planning what you intend to remove. Are you saying yes to projects that do not interest you? Start saying no to projects that are out of your scope of interest and start saying yes to the ones you genuinely care about and focus your energy on that aspect. You will find it to be more fulfilling and you will eliminate mental and physical clutter. While this is one example, there are other things you can start planning – if you want to start saving money you can plan a cash budget and stick to that budget and start saving money. Starting money jars for a budget is another strategy you can follow to lead to careful spending.
The main idea is to get back to the basics and work towards making your life simpler. Do you have a lot of unused things in your home? Start decluttering and get rid of things you don’t use. Have a keep, donate, and throw away pile. While there is more to making a simpler life, starting with airing out your space, budget and career will begin the journey to mental clarity, as you will feel like you will have more space to move about and will be able to start to focus on what matters.
Path to Mental Clarity
Once you have cleared out your space, freed up your time, and know where you are going with your budget it is time to work on your mind and take care of yourself. Things that be included in the journey are meditation, exercise, and starting to talk to yourself in a kind manner! As one wise person once said, “If we spoke to others the way we speak to ourselves, no one would want to be our friend.” And this is true, as individuals, we are often much harder on ourselves than we are on others. When you catch yourself in a web of negative thoughts, change what you are thinking, and think is this true? What good things have I done in the past? Or how can I be more kind to myself? This type of thinking will take a while to work out because most people are used to thinking in a specific way, but after a while kind works to yourself will become a habit and you will see more clarity in what you are thinking and feeling.
Another method to get more clarity that I follow is watching motivational videos online, I watch these whenever I am feeling a lack of motivation or simply need a pick me up to reconfigure myself. There are hundreds of videos online that you can watch, and some video makers even post these videos daily! This is a great way to self-motivate and to get a better handle on positive thoughts as you move about your day.
Now as I say this, it is not just about positive thinking, there is an aspect of you that must believe that you are saying to yourself. A simple like will just be as simple as you make it. Clearing out the mental clutter is a good place to start and is a good place to move forward with creating new habits.
Bliss + You 