Already in childhood, everyone around teaches us to always strive for something bigger. To aim high, achieve more and more. Advertisements on TV, social media, billboards only confirm our belief that more is better. We spend most of our day at work, after work we stay to finish projects to have funds for big houses, big cars, fashionable clothes, cosmetics and gadgets of the latest technology. But the truth is, we all feel, deep down, that happiness cannot be bought at all. Such purchased happiness (in the form of material things) is temporary, fleeting – next year the company will release a new series of clothes and we will have to buy new things if we want to follow the trends. Is that what it is all about? This is what we want?
More is not always better! Sometimes less can actually contribute to our having more
What if we are happier leading a simpler life?
Such a statement would completely change our habits, could contribute to a change of views for each of us. It changes the definition of happiness achieved through having as we know it.
A simple life is as much composed of the words less is more. It is a life where we have less consumerism, less distractions and less irrelevant things. And all this makes the spaces around us more thoughtful, filled with things created with intention and composed of what is important and valuable (not necessarily in the sense of a high price).
When you decide to design your own life, begin to control the enormity of things that may overwhelm you right now, then it will make a deeper sense. Life is definitely more than the sum of the things we have.
Problem with the amount of things or the lack of space?
The following list outlines 5 steps we encourage you to take to simplify our lives.
Step 1. Give back unnecessary items
Give back items that you haven’t worn for over a year. Don’t leave them at the bottom of the closet. If you haven’t been wearing them for a long time and can live without them, then you don’t need them. You probably even forgot some of them. So… do some cleanup!
Step 2. Take time for yourself offline
In the constant race called life, we don’t have much time to stop and think about whether we are really happy and whether we really want what we have. Let’s try to find at least half an hour a day for ourselves. Time to read a book, think things over, meditate, or just relax with yourself. Such free time from the Internet and all kinds of media will do us good.
Step 3. Simplify your meals
A balanced diet does not necessarily mean complicated and time-consuming meals. Prepare a menu for the whole week, and the next week will be a variation and a different component version based on the first model. Fresh, carefully planned meals can be definitely healthier than bought on the go. It is worth taking a moment to prepare simple dishes from the ingredients we have purchased. At least then we know exactly what we eat!
Step 4. Travel with less luggage
Each of us knows that traveling with less luggage is much more comfortable. We do not have to worry about all these things packed into suitcases thrown into the luggage compartments by the very careful and attentive airport employees. We don’t have to worry if we’ll ever see them again.
Little luggage – little problem. Take, for example, a backpack that we can take with us everywhere and it will not interfere with movement like a large suitcase.
Lighter, smaller luggage in this case means more freedom, which we will have when taking less things on a journey. And isn’t that what vacation is all about? For freedom, no worries and relaxation?
Step 5. Designate a “garbage-free” zone free from unnecessary things
It can be a table, countertop, drawer in a room / kitchen. You can always use it as an inspiration for a minimalist life. Order is not that bad at all! What’s more, you feel better in a space that you know well, you have everything under control and you know exactly where what is.
If you like this garbage-free area and you feel comfortable with it, you can expand it every day until it covers the entire room. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a room – clean and devoid of unnecessary papers, clothes or cardboard boxes? Maybe the whole apartment will go to a clean zone and at the same time will become a zone completely yours, created by you for you.
The process of achieving a simpler – more mindful and healthier life is not quick and consists of many small steps that create good habits and largely contribute to our perception of happiness. Not always to become the ideal that each of us strives for – that is, a rich man – you need a lot of money. For as Jackie French Koller wrote: “There are two ways to be rich: one is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little.” And it is up to us whether we choose this short-term or long-term happiness.
