The Most Important Thing

What is the most important reason to live simply?

 I love having time to read a book, take a bubble bath, go for a hike, create, hang out with friends, spend time outdoors, get dressed in the morning, take a class, cook a healthy meal, meditate -- these are all wonderful motives for simplifying, but they aren't the ultimate purpose for me.

The single foremost thing I want to make space for in my life is: service. Helping others. I believe that is the best way to live a meaningful life.

I want to have a schedule so simple that when a friend gets sick, I can whip up dinner for her family at the drop of a hat. I want to eliminate distractions that keep me from noticing when those around me could use a helping hand. When someone asks for a favor, I want to have enough energy to be able to say "yes" without having to spread myself too thin. I want to save enough money to share with those in need. I want to be there for my family.

Is there anything more important than that?

Simplicity Increases Creativity

For most of my life I thought that I wasn't creative. I knew creative people, I admired them, looked up to them, and even wanted to be like them; but that was just an unrealistic daydream.
...Or was it?

One of my favorite things about simplifying is how my creativity has grown. The more junk I let go of, the more creative inspiration strikes. I'm not saying I'm a creative genius or anything, but I no longer believe I lack the ability to create good things. I have a few theories about why this is.

 Clarity.
With less distractions around me, I can think so much more clearly and focus better than I could before, making room for the creative ideas to flow. 


 Time.
I also have more time to think and to create than ever before, because I'm not rushing around trying to get everything done.


 Less Stress.
Have you ever noticed that when you're stressed out, you cant think as clearly? Maybe that's just me. When I'm stressed, I struggle to have good ideas, in fact that's when I have some of my worst ideas. Well, simplicity is the opposite of stress. 


 Freedom from limiting beliefs.
As I let go of physical junk, I find myself also letting go of emotional and mental junk too. It's like I can't get rid of one without the other following closely behind. A lot of that mental junk includes false beliefs about my capabilities. Somewhere in my life I learned that I wasn't creative. I've had to let that go and accept that it just isn't true. This also leaves space in my mind for positive beliefs and ideas, including creative ones.  


Forced Creativity.
When you have less possessions, and make the decision not to buy more, you learn to make do and get creative with what you do have. You have to. It's like a forced creativity workout; the exercise strengthens that creativity.

Don't Complicate Simplicity

My goal is not to own nothing, but to own only what contributes to the well being of myself and my family.

If you search the internet for articles about minimalism, you'll often come across people who define "minimalist" as a person who owns 100 possessions or less; that seems to be the general rule. I have my own ideas about what minimalism is. To me it means doing/owning/being only the minimum of what is essential for a happy life.

While I think counting your possessions is great if that's what works for you, personally, I prefer not to. For me, minimalism is about keeping my life as simple as possible. Setting rules (or worse, letting others set rules) about the number of items I'm allowed to own only complicates things, in my opinion, which defeats the purpose for me.

I want to eliminate as many of the "have to's" that I can, and replace them with "want to's." The more we own, the more we have to be responsible for. Of course having responsibilities can't be and shouldn't be completely avoided, but why be responsible for things that aren't necessary or contributing to my well being? On the flip side, there are certain possessions that make life simpler. Just ask the poorest person you can find if life would be easier if they could afford to own certain items or tools.

My goal is not to own nothing, but to own only what contributes to the well being of myself and my family.  It's all about priorities.  Decide what is important to you, keep things that contribute to that. Then decide what you can do without, and get rid of those things.  If setting rules and following them is important to you, then maybe only keeping a certain number of items will work well for you.

 For over a year we didn't own a couch, because we thought maybe we didn't need it. After testing it out, we ultimately decided to get one. We decided that having friends and family over is important to our happiness, and having a comfortable place to visit and relax with them was something we wanted to invest in. One thing we haven't owned for a really long time, and haven't missed, is a television.  It just isn't one of our priorities.  Someone once gave us a TV, and all it did was sit there and collect dust, so we gave it away and still haven't felt it to be essential for a full and happy life.

If someone wants to argue that I'm not a minimalist because I own more than 100 things, that's okay. Not a whole lot of my identity depends on that word, its just the only word that's been invented that best labels my lifestyle. If you want to be a stickler, go ahead and call me a "simplicityist" or an "efficiencyist." 

Complicating minimalism by making rules about what people can and cant own just feels contradictory to me. My only rule is that each possession should enrich my life.

    

You Only Lose What You Cling To

Recently when my husband and I were going over our insurance options, I had an interesting realization. When we came to renters insurance to discuss how much we wanted to pay into it, I looked around our apartment and envisioned what it'd be like if we somehow lost everything. How would I feel? How would it affect us? It wasn't actually hard to visualize because it had already pretty much happened once before.

You see, only a few months after I decided that I wanted to adopt a simpler lifestyle, my husband suddenly got a new job a few states over. We had to move quickly, and couldn't afford to bring all of our stuff with us. So we took the necessities that we could carry, and headed off to our new home. We lived in that home for an entire summer, and never got around to buying replacements for what we had left behind. We had no furniture (except a table and two chairs); we slept on an air mattress. We also never got around to getting Internet hooked up. I was half way through my pregnancy and couldn't fit into my old clothes, so I bought 3 basic maternity tees, 1 pair of maternity jeans, and 1 very stretchy black dress; that was all I wore that summer.

In those few months I learned how very little I needed to be happy. I remember feeling so at peace--so free. I began meditating for the first time in my life. I went for walks twice a day. I spent time at the library, and read all kinds of educational books. I went to the park. Got more done, yet, somehow, got more rest. That turned out to be one of the happiest summers of my life.

So this time, as I looked over my possessions, I realized I had very little attachment to them, and I loved that fact. For me, losing everything was a wonderful gift.

"You only lose what you cling to."

-Unknown (possibly Buddha)

Why I Choose Simplicity

I decided to start blogging again, but this time I'm keeping it very simple. I'm currently sitting in the doctors office waiting room, blogging on my phone; that's how simple this is. This blog will focus on simplicity, so it's only fitting that I do it as simply as possible. So let's get to it...


Why I choose simplicity:

It's easy to google a list of why minimalism is a good idea, so I won't go into that right now, instead I'll tell you why I chose minimalism, and continue to choose it every day.

My name is Shy. I'm a 26 year old mother of one little girl, almost 5 years married to my sweetheart. I'm a Type 1 Diabetic. This means that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, I am thinking about diabetes--counting carbs, calculating medication, checking my blood sugar, making sure I have everything I need in case my blood glucose level drops, and everything I need in case it soars, correcting my levels as needed (multiple times a day), making sure I get enough exercise, going to doctors appointments, picking up medications from the pharmacy. I'm also constantly having to pay for the tools that help me do this, or dealing with the insurance that helps me pay for it. I lose a quite a bit of sleep having to get up in the night to treat a high or low blood glucose, or refill my insulin pump. There is a lot of counting and calculating, a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of energy that goes into it. If I don't give it enough attention, it could literally take my life. I cant afford to focus on non-essentials.

I began to practice minimalism when I was pregnant with my daughter, and realized that if something didn't change, I wouldn't be around to see her grow to adulthood. I HAD to make my health a priority. By eliminating everything that was unnecessary, I would be left with more time, energy, and money to do what is necessary.

Now, years later, I'm reaping the rewards that I expected; but amazingly I'm also being rewarded in ways I couldn't have imagined. The things I've learned, and ways I've grown have far exceeded my expectations. Its incredible what you can learn when you aren't being distracted by unnecessary noise or  pursuing the fulfillment of needs that aren't truly needs.

Simplicity: A Short Story

Once there was a wide eyed, young bride, happily wed to her true love, but overwhelmed by life and the many responsibilities that came with each step further into adulthood. It seemed as though her life consisted mostly of burdens, bills, and tasks that brought her very little joy. It began to weigh on her so heavily, a toll was taken on her mind and body, and her health suffered as stress and anxiety began to overtake her...

One day, as she looked over the piles of clothes that needed washing, the overwhelming stack of dirty dishes, and the seemingly endless bundle of unpaid bills, an idea struck her. She didn't need all those extra clothes, dishes, or even most of the bills. She only had them because that was all she had known. She was raised with all those things and everyone else she knew had them. Suddenly, she realized she had been blindly following what she'd seen done before her, like a member of a herd of cattle. With newly opened eyes, she set out on a mission to free herself from debt, clutter, excess, jealousy, grudges, false beliefs, and any other chains that were holding her back. 

She came across many obstacles as she traveled mostly alone on her journey. Many people did not understand her new ideals. There were often Sirens along her unbeaten path trying to pull her back to the congested highway that she had recently exited, urging that it was safer, less bumpy, more glamorous, less lonely--normal. Occasionally they bested her, and she found herself once more stuck in the flow of traffic, but because she had escaped before, she was more prepared to do so again with more ease. 

Step by step she simplified her life and slowly began to break free from the bonds of materialism. Along the way, she gained a few allies who shared her goal, as their route would on occasion meet up with hers. She even ran into some of her own family on her path, including her husband, and she fell into step with them. They were able to support one another on their quest, and she felt less and less compelled to go back to the highway. 

With her new found freedom, she discovered many interests that she was finally free to pursue, including a love for writing, photography, nature, and a passion for helping people, especially other women. She started sharing her adventures, hoping her new knowledge would help inspire others to break free from their chains as well. She began to experience much more happiness in life as she let go of stress, worry, and unnecessary burdens, and learned to live in the present by basking in the joy of each moment, no longer distracted by fear of the future or regrets of the past.

The young bride and her true love were finally ready to greet the healthy, beautiful baby girl who was soon born. The little family continued on their self built road together, striving to experience each beautiful moment to the fullest as they went, helping others on the way. 
And they were happy.