Life.
It’s messy, noisy and complex.
It’s demanding, confusing and exhausting.
It’s so easy to look around you and feel like you’re not keeping up – like everyone else is achieving and moving forwards and you’re stuck, sitting still or going round in circles.
Sometimes, it feels like it might be easier to just give in and go and live a subsistence life on a far away island. Somewhere where sleeping soundly every night is normal, the sun is always shining and there’s nothing to do except look for food, relax and simply be.
But then the alarm goes off, you drag yourself out of bed and push yourself through another day. Very little changes; it’s the same people, the same work, the same demands, the same pressures, the same expectations … the same life.
What if it didn’t have to be that way?
It’s not unusual for us to find ourselves living this way. It is, after all, how almost all of us are taught that life has to be.
You have to choose between being successful and being happy. You can have success, but you then have to take what comes with that: stress, exhaustion and pressure.
You can be happy, but you have to give up being successful to make that work.
But what if that’s not true? What if there is a way you can be healthy, happy AND highly successful?
If you could have all three of these things, what would you be prepared to do?
Here’s the rub: it’s what the answer to this question might be that puts so many people off asking it. It’s completely ingrained in our belief system that having all three of these things is impossible – and this makes it really hard for us to see that there might be a way that doesn’t involve having to sell a kidney to make it work.
Simplicity is the answer.
Living a simple life doesn’t mean depriving yourself, or giving up all the things you love. It simply means working out what’s important to you and then creating the simplest steps possible to allow you to have more of them in your life.
Sounds simple? That’s because it is!
Making change is often associated with difficulty or deprivation.
Change is only difficult because we’ve been taught that it should be that way.
Sayings like ‘if change was meant to be easy, we’d all be doing it’ and ‘no pain – no gain’ are common themes that are taught to us at a very young age.
But life can be simple without having to deprive yourself, become a minimalist or stop doing things you love to do. Living a simple life is simply about taking some time to work out what’s important to you, understand WHY they’re important to you and then use that information to step forwards in the simplest possible way.
- What are the three things that are the most important to you?
- Do you have them in your life right now?
- What simple step can you take right now to start to give yourself one of these things?
Life doesn’t have to be any more complex than that.
A simple life is waiting for you.
It’s as easy as starting with the three simple questions above and then using the answers to help form your steps forward in a different way.
Adopting simplicity means you’ll be recharged every day. You’ll lose the desperation for an escape from your life and you’ll be happy tailor-making the world that is perfect for you.
So, what are you prepared to do to give yourself a chance to experience a simple way of life?
If you want to some help in finding new ways to understand how simplicity can help you, you can access tips in the articles and videos in my FREE email series – it’s a great way to help you begin your journey. Simply click here to start you on your way.
Bronwen Sciortino is a Simplicity Expert, an internationally renowned author and professional speaker and. You can follow her at her website; Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
This article first appeared on Prosperi Press – you can view the article by clicking here.
