Free Yourself: Transform Your Life With Simple Living

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Original Article Published in Medium. 7 August 2024

Well that’s what the ads say — But why can’t we have both — Our beloved possessions and a peaceful existence?

Here’s the thing.

“Simplify” according to the Britannica World Language Dictionary (1962 — a very good year) means:

“To make more simple or less complex.”

So it can be extrapolated that to “simplify our lives” is to have a system, to be organised, to have a Plan B or to index our extensive collection of buttons, some of which have fetched as much as $15.00 on Ebay.

What do you say to that?

[Shrugs] “But what does it mean for my life, right now? It’s a mess!” I hear you mutter.

I get you. I too have a lovely collection of post-it notes, with arcane ideas scrawled all over them and I’m not going to throw them out, no sireee!

But I could do with a good system, per se.

Perhaps even a folder where they were sorted by topic and easily retrieved, for when I wanted some ideas for this article, for example.

Hmmm, does that sound like the kind of simplifying that your life could use?

I’ll get back to that thought at the end of the article — so stay with me!

Why do we need to simplify our lives?

It’s a fact that every generation has its own challenges, and thinks longingly about the “good old days”, when they were young.

You’re correct in thinking that your younger days were simpler — mainly because a group of adults and/or older siblings did a lot of the heavy lifting in your life. But now you’re an adult, things are coming at you from all angles.

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Life today is definitely challenging.

And today’s big word is: FATIGUE

Let me know if you feel fatigue with any/or all of these! The person with the most WINS (????)

• Technology and Artificial Intelligence
• War and the news coverage about it
• Climate issues
• Employment (or lack of it)
• Family pressures
• Money pressures
• Social media — peer group pressures
• Too many options for every little decision you have to make!

That’s the worst one — Having to make decisions every single day — For even the smallest of things..

I mean how many types of coffee can you have?

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What has all this fatigue done to us?

Even though some technology is great, and we love being in a group that thinks like us, don’t we?

The complexity of life has made us lose touch with what matters.

Ourselves for a start. Who we are, our roles, our gender.

Our families and our children. For instance, it’s so easy to ignore the challenges of teenagers, who are struggling more than we can ever tell. 

Our Dear Mother Earth. The loss of connection with Her has resulted in some terrible decisions being made. 

Our friends, colleagues and neighbours. I love standing in the middle of the road on bin night, catching up with my next-door neighbours. Knowing they are there makes me feel safe and part of a strong community.

Our dreams. We lost them so long ago, but they’re still there, under the pile of poor decisions and clutter.

Our history. Be it our family’s history or our culture’s. Feeling a sense of connection to our heritage, and passing that down to the next generations is core to our survival.

How do we solve this conundrum? 

True connection.

To the present.

To those around us, who matter to us. Human, animal, plant and environment.

To slow down our charged-up minds.

To take a moment, or two, before making decisions.

We are part of the world community, 

But even more than this, 

We are part of life itself.

How we live, what decisions we make.

Who we interact with.

That energy impacts us all.

That energy is our connection.

It’s our gateway to living a simpler life.

To feeling in control.

To making great decisions.

To happiness and connectedness.

And that said,

You’re most welcome to come join our community of like-minded souls -

Who seek a simpler life.