5 Ways to Simplify Your Life

As a 30-something year old, I’ve seen simpler times……. I am a part of the generation that grew up playing with dolls and marbles, reading books…..from Encyclopedia Brown to Sweet Valley High and University, to Goosebumps (OK. I’ll stop). Yes, we had the internet, but it was the days of “dial-up”. I must admit, I did spend way too much time playing snake on my Nokia 3310 and maybe watched one too many movies on Lifetime and Disney. I really could go on and on about how I long for simpler days. I’ve considered giving up my smart phone and disconnecting streaming services, but decided it best to start with smaller steps, which have made a big difference in my life. Here are a few steps to help you simplify your life:

1. Stop multi-tasking.

I know. While reading this you probably have another 10 tabs open, with the TV running in the background and are probably in the middle of cooking. You’re not alone. Many of us are guilty of it. We run around with this false sense of urgency, believing that we are not being productive enough if we aren’t doing multiple things at once. We put it on our resumes and mention in interviews how great we are at multi-tasking and wear it as a badge of honor.

In the book The Myth of Multitasking, Crenshaw mentions “When most people refer to multitasking, they are really talking about switch tasking. No matter how they do it, switching rapidly between two things is just not very efficient or effective.”

Focusing on one task at a time is less anxiety inducing and may actually result in better quality work.

Don’t believe? Try it for yourself.

Take a way activity: Make a To-do list daily, starting with your top priorities, and focus on only one task at a time.

2. De-clutter

Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. If you have them, you have to take care of them! There is great freedom in simplicity of living. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.

Peace Pilgrim

This is not another blog post on minimalism. While many have benefited from this lifestyle, it (like most things) is not for everybody. However, having excess can be doing more harm than good. I consider excess anything that does not serve a purpose or bring joy. If you like collector items, it’s likely that brings you joy and would therefore not be considered excessive.

It may be important to pause and take stock.

Take away activity: Declutter – Pick section of your home to work on, go through all your belongings asking yourself :

• Do I need this? – Do I use it daily? Have I used it recently? Will I use it in the near future.
• Do I love it? Does it bring me joy? Does it have sentimental value?

If you answer no for any item, you may want to sell it, donate it, give it away. Whatever the method- Get rid of it.

3. Have a morning and night-time routine.

Let me start by saying, this will look different for everyone. Among us humans there are right-brain, left-brain, type A, B, C and D personality, introversion, extraversion, dosha constitutions, the planets and the stars, etc. etc. etc. – all explaining how and why we’re so different.

We are all different and cannot expect the same things to work for all of us. I personally, struggled with sticking to routine, until I embraced my version of routine.

Some people can have an extensive, hour-long morning routine, while others can only be consistent if it takes 5-10 minutes. Whatever works, works, but routine will do wonders for creating ease and space in your life.

Take away activity: Plan a quick morning and night-time routine, if you don’t already have one. Have 2 activities you do after waking and 2 activities to do before bed and try to do it consistently for even one week.

Ideas

• make bed
• journal
• pray/meditate
• shower
• exercise
• make breakfast
• take supplements
• drink tea/coffee
• check in with loved ones.

4. Take a break from screens

According to statista.com, “the average time spent daily on a phone, not counting talking on the phone, has increased in recent years, reaching a total of 4 hours and 30 minutes as of April 2022”.

From binging our favorite TV shows for weeks on end to spending most of the day doom scrolling on social media, we are constantly being bombarded with content. Constantly stimulated. Constantly hearing everybody’s opinion on everything. It is more overwhelming than we realize. It is not natural to constantly be stimulated all the time.

Do yourself a favor and take some time off.

I personally prefer to start my day slowly, spending time with my thoughts, journaling, meditating, having tea and giving myself at least an hour tech-free after waking.

Take away activity: Have at least one phone-free hour each day.

5. Lean into silence

Find hobbies that require you to slow down and dedicate time weekly to doing it. Ideally something that helps to quiet your mind.

Ideas:

• Cooking/Baking
• Gardening
• Painting
• Pottery
• Coloring
• Puzzles
• Hiking

Take away activity: Explore hobbies you may be interested in and decide on at least one to do weekly.

There’s no need to do all 5 at once. Implementing any step will help you simplify your life.

You’ve got this!

-Chloe ❤