Life can be complicated, and sometimes, complications can be interesting … even fun. But they can also be exhausting, siphoning energy, that you need for other pursuits. At its best, simplicity allows you to reduce the distractions in your life so that you can focus on what really matters. The tips below can help you find that simplicity.
Understand Your Values
Not everyone will want to simplify in the same way. One great way to simplify your life is to pare down to a capsule wardrobe, which is essentially a set of clothing that you can mix and match without really thinking. This ensures that you always look reasonably put together, but you never have to put much energy into what you wear.
However, if you love fashion and one of your joys in life is creating new outfits, the advice to create a capsule wardrobe is useless. Others will want to know how to glow up in a transformative way that extends beyond updating one’s wardrobe.
Struggling to fit into someone else’s idea of what simplicity should be can make you think it isn’t for you at all. Instead, think about what is really important to you and what isn’t so that you’ll know what to prioritise.
Photo, Brooke Cagle.
Identify Your Complications
The next step is to identify problem areas in your life so that you can fix them. Make a list. Some of them might be things you can’t necessarily do anything about, such as an ongoing family problem or an issue at work.
Part of embracing simplicity includes letting go of things that are out of your control. On the other hand, you may have more power in some cases than you think. With your list of complications you’d like to address, you can move on to looking for solutions.
Look For Solutions
Some solutions will be fairly obvious. You hate dealing with finances and often forget to make payments, so automating everything as much as possible is a good way to deal with this. In other situations, finding solutions might be more challenging. This is where brainstorming is a good idea, letting your imagination play out without shutting down any possible avenues.
Maybe you are dealing with a mobility issue in your home. Your house has more than one floor, and you or a family member are struggling to go up and down the stairs. Brainstorming might include adding a lift to your house. This might seem like an unlikely solution, but with some research, you’ll find that bespoke domestic lifts are actually both reasonably easy and affordable to install in a residence. You can then do further research to determine whether this solution is right for you.
Maintaining Simplicity
You can continue using the above approaches to maintain simplicity, and you can also add a few more. One of the most powerful tools is the ability to set boundaries and to resist the temptation to take on more than you are capable of doing. Decluttering is also important. Finally, resist the urge to do too much multitasking. While it can be unavoidable sometimes, being fully present in what you are doing much of the time can help make you feel less frantic overall.
