New Years can go one of three ways:
1) You make resolutions.
2) You don’t make resolutions.
3) You think about making resolutions then don’t.
I’m in the third group. Making resolutions always seems like a good idea in theory but in practice they’re just not practical. There’s probably some staggering percentage of people who go to the gym in January and perhaps February before it drops off.
And I’m not really one for “challenges” like that.
Instead, through it’s own natural way, 2014 has started off as the year of simplification.
A lot happened in my life in 2013. A LOT. More than the average person knows about. Just…a lot. Which meant excess. During the good times I’d fill my life with eating out and buying pretty things for my flat (not to mention the fact that just living by myself costs an arm and a leg). And during the bad times, when I’d rather lay face down on the floor and stare at the walls, I’d force myself to go out so I wouldn’t drive myself crazy…which meant even more eating out and buying things.
I’m pretty sure Jay Gatsby lived a pretty similar lifestyle.
But it wasn’t just food and stuff that I amassed in 2013. I also picked up a pile of projects (like launching a business) and started habits like furthering my addiction to Twitter and watching TV (le gasp!)
It made getting at the things that really matter (and that I enjoy) like reading, yoga, and meditation, pretty difficult. (I also may have gone overboard on the magazine subscriptions…which I LOVE magazines…but now there are so many it makes it hard to keep up and I’m almost a full year behind on some of them).
And I recognize this.
Last Friday I genuinely thought I was having a mental breakdown. There were four versions of me all thinking at the same time. And for every thought I’d have, the other three voices in my head would question it.
Do you know how confusing that is?
I literally laid there for hours thinking I was going insane.
(Of course I just passed out, woke up after a nights rest, and felt just fine albeit still haunted by the night before).
So 2014 is the anti-2013. I can’t ditch projects so those’ll have to stay but my goal is to make more time for the things I really love. Photography and hiking and reading and sitting quietly to drink tea in the mornings. Oh, and to not spend money like a drunken sailor. Because…yeah…that was just….so bad in 2013. This will all be done in hopes that if I live a more modest lifestyle it’ll pour over into other things…like being able to work leaner and faster…and that clarity of mind and spirit will lead to new ideas!
I have some vague ideas in mind on how I want to tackle this year which I’ll share in the next post but until then if you’re looking to do something similar, even if it’s one small action step, google “Small Ways To Simplify Your Life.” That’s how I drew inspiration for my list!
Go get ’em, tiger.
xx
