I think most of us can identify with the desire for a simpler life.
Less laundry, less time spent cleaning, less standing in front of the closet trying to figure out what to wear, less rushing, less bills, more money and the list goes on…
But at the same time that we want less, we grasp for more. (this is true for most of us)
Somewhere along the line we bought into society’s way of thinking that EXCESS = SUCCESS; which is totally not true at all..
We’re afraid! Here are some things that go through our minds…..
If I don’t get this now, when will I get another chance?
If I give this up, if I get rid of that…
What if I need it someday?
What if having less means that I’m less?
We naturally all have a sense of gathering and gathering more ‘stuff’ around us. It seems like a human characteristic thing to do!!
What if…? What if…? What if…? What if…?
But what if having less, gives you the chance to be more?
If what you drive defines you – you are your car.
If what you wear defines you – you are your clothes.
If where you live defines you – you are your house.
But you aren’t any of those things. So who are you, really?
Who are you with nothing? ‘Things’ or ‘stuff’ will not give you self-confidence, they will not give you wisdom, they will not give you a notch in your belt, they will not give you stature or prominence (well they might but this is very superficial and fake) – It can ALL be gone tomorrow!
We strive and toil because we’re trying to be somebody and we’re trying to be happy:
Even though everyone “knows” that stuff doesn’t make us happy, our human nature keeps us pursuing it. We can’t just know. We have to believe.
When we truly believe something, our actions line up naturally:
If you have trouble with your actions, get really honest with yourself about what you believe. But more often than not, knowing has to be put into action to affect a heart change
When we take steps to actually get rid of the excess in our lives, we begin to see that it really does make a difference:
A weight we’d been carrying so long we didn’t even realize was there, starts to lift and a knowledge slowly becomes a belief!
When we pursue less instead of more, the important stuff rises to the surface and clarity ceases to be ‘elusive’:
We become more comfortable in our own skin. We tend to love ourselves even more than what we initially believed or so we thought..
Feeling free and released:
When Rick and I sold our main house 15 months ago, we had been living it this house for 21 years, you could imagine our gathering over that time. Between us two and our walk in robe, we had a pile of clothes that would have filled an average laundry floor, piled up around 1 metre high – no joke!! We couldn’t believe it. Things that we hadn’t worn for years but kept them ‘just in case’…I can hear you now saying: ‘I done that or I wish I could do the same!’
Let me tell you how freeing that was when we had actually done it. I’m not saying it was easy at all because we had never really done that before and the thought of throwing out good clothes and shoes was horrifying to me, I mean, taking them down to a charity. When they were all gone, did we miss them? Absolutely not! We never gave them another thought. Did we feel lighter? Absolutely yes! Where we glad when we had actually done such a scary thing? Absolutely yes!
If just a clean out a wardrobe can do that, then imagine if we uncluttered our lives in every way. How good would be feel and how freeing would that be?
Our lives aren’t perfect and they never will be, but I fully believe that we can live a slower paced life, live an uncluttered life with our living and surroundings, a simpler lifestyle no matter what; it’s all in the choices that we make along the way.
Have a wonderful day and enjoy your simpler life!!
Trish ❤
http://www.trish120.wordpress.com
Rick & Trish Ledingham - Learning to Live Outside Our Comfort Bubble! 