Most of us struggle to live our life between paying bills and earning a living. We end up taking too much stress. And rightly so? Managing a family, paying bills, living up to the expectations of others, is not an easy job. When you simplify your life, you make a conscious decision to keep all the unnecessary stress at bay.
Yes! You still continue to work hard to make ends meet. It’s just that you find the courage to take life with a pinch of salt.
From the minute, we are born on this planet, we make relationships – some are friends and some are family. In each of these relationships, there is an onus to deliver up to another person’s expectations.
Family expects your time, friends want your attention, the cycle is endless. But in all of this, we should not forget to live our life.
When we ignore the wellbeing of the body, life becomes complicated. Each one of us yearns for a debt free life, a simpler life sans the mental clutter. So how do we get this life?
There are many people who waste their time trying to simplify life by planning. A lot of these plans are inspired from articles on social media, advice from friends and hearsay. Unfortunately, planning is not enough. You need to implement the plan as well.
If you have wasted your time decluttering your life on the basis of such information, you need to wake up and smell the coffee! There are many ways to simplify your life. From an elaborate meal plan to yoga and other forms of exercise. But one needs to identify their calling. Accordingly, choose your path and pursue it with complete dedication.
In this article, we will delve upon some easy yet extremely satisfying methods that can help you simplify your life. Just get the basics right and you will enjoy the process of leading a simpler life. Some people promise a drastic transformation in 30 days but it all depends on your dedication.
Why Should You Simplify Your Life?
This is a question that bothers many who start the journey to declutter their life. A simpler life opens the door to happiness. You do not need to worry about living up to the other person’s expectations. This is because you have taught the mind to focus on living a happy and healthy life.
In this process, it is absolutely normal if you are not able to do everything that the other person expects you to do. Your focus should be on keeping your conscience clean and not hurt others. As long as you can manage that and a fair amount of multitasking, leading a simple life should be easy.
When Can You Start Simplifying Your Life?
It is never too late to start simplifying your life. We are always so focused on multitasking that we end up ignoring the physical and mental wellbeing of our body.
The easiest way to get rid of the mental clutter is to start someday. The sooner you start the better it is. As a parent, if you can inculcate the habit into your child, it will help him or her evolve into a better human being.
10 Reasons Why You Should Simplify Life
Of course, it will keep you happier. But happiness is not the only bonus that you get by opting for a simpler life. There is much more, you need to start by enjoying your life. The entire philosophy of leading a simpler life revolves around relying on less. Your needs are lesser and so you learn to be happy in whatever you have. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
1. You consume lesser resources of the environment. The natural resources provided to us are fast depleting. If we learn to manage with less, we can do our bit to preserve the natural resources.
2. You end up accumulating a lot of savings. This could well be monetary savings that add the extra zeros to your bank account.
3. You learn to focus better because you have lesser things to distract you. The lesser you believe in materialistic pleasures, the easier you find it to focus on leading a happier life.
4. The individual is able to develop and sustain healthy relationships. This is because lesser needs lead to lower expectations making it easier to enjoy relationships.
5. With simple living, one can live a healthier life. The idea of decluttering your life aids in getting rid of all the non-essential items.
6. You get to learn more about yourself. Leading a simpler life gives you a chance to explore your hobbies. For instance, many people may discover their love for dance, music, etc.
7. Such people will experience better control of their emotions. Therefore, problems like overreacting, loss of temper will never bother them.
8. With ownership comes responsibility. However, if you have lesser ownership, you worry less about your responsibility. This gives the individual freedom from additional burdens.
9. Such people can be true to themselves. Their needs are bare minimum and so they do not have to rely on too many people to fulfill them.
10. Last but not the least, such individuals are an inspiration to others around them.
TIP
It is best advised to take the first step towards living a happy and simple life. You can savor the benefits gradually.
There are many advantages of opting to lead a simple life. All of these boil down to a guaranteed increase in the happiness quotient.
Here is a nice video on the benefits of a simple life:
How To Simplify Life?
Here are the 50 ways to simplify your life –
50 Ways To Simplify Your Life
SUMMARY
These are a few quick and easy tips that can help you in your mission to lead a simple life. Of course, these are not sacrosanct methods, you can choose to tweak them as per your comfort and liking.
Here are 50 easy-to-follow methods that can help an individual to lead a happy and simple life:
1. Define a purpose in life. Living a purposeless life is extremely frustrating. It’s like running a marathon but never reaching the finish line. So start by identifying an overarching purpose.
2. Don’t be a control freak. The first step to leading a simple life is learning to let go. You can not control every outcome and that is okay. Just do your part and do it in the best possible way.
3. Plan the day in advance. Every morning does not have to be a race. If you take some time on the previous night and plan your day in advance, it will simplify things for you.
4. List the positive things in life. They are the perfect motivation to increase the happiness quotient in your life. You should fix a time during the day when you can list down the positives. It could be just before you go to bed.
5. Making a schedule and proceeding with your day will make it easier for you to find time for things that you like to do. This will help you stay happier and simplify your life.
6. Reflect on the activities of the day. Yes! Introspection is one of the best ways to understand your behavior and improve it. For instance, if you have hurt someone with your words or wronged them, make it a point to go back and apologize.
7. Learn to put things back in their place. Like everyone in the universe has a purpose, everything has a specific location. If you just remember to keep your things back in their place, it will help you avoid a lot of trouble. Additionally, you can also avoid the stress of looking for things if you know where to find them.
8. It is okay to refuse. When someone asks for something, you do not have to agree to it. If it is not possible, politely decline the proposal.
9. Always set the right expectations. In a relationship, it is very important to expect the right things. Do not take the other person for granted because then you can only expect unnecessary mental strain.
10. Make yourself heard but do not try to impose your opinion. One of the core mantras to lead a simpler life is to have an opinion and express it. However, if you try to impose it, you will only add more stress to your life.
11. Do not buy things that you don’t need. We mentioned that a simpler life leads to monetary savings. Are you wondering how this happens? Well, it is simple- you stop buying things that you don’t need.
12. Charity is soul soothing. The foundation of living a simpler life rests on soul satisfying experiences and charity can surely help achieve this. For example, check your wardrobe. Do you have any extra clothes? If yes, why don’t you donate it to someone in need.
13. Indulge in self-love. Identify some activities that you would love to indulge in. A good start can be self-love meditation. It is an enriching experience for the soul.
14. Open your mind to feedback. You are not god and so you need not always be right. Do not have a stern opinion. Occasionally, you need to step into the other person’s shoes and understand their viewpoint as well.
15. Don’t be ashamed to ask questions. Learning and knowledge are crucial to simplify life. Each time you ask a question, you get an opportunity to learn.
16. Identify a special place- a place where you love to spend time. This could be your library or study room. Spend some time regularly in this special place. Just let the happiness sink in and remind yourself why you need to simplify life.
17. Identify a healthy habit and stick to it. Simpler life needs you to declutter and identifying a healthy habit is an easy way to do this. You could try something as simple as sipping a cup of green tea every afternoon.
18. Don’t spend unnecessary time online. How many times do you use the internet just for browsing? The answer may be surprising. If you want to simplify life, learn to avoid temptations. Reducing the time that you spend online will help you do so.
19. Indulge in cooking. Make your own meals instead of ordering. This is a big step to simplify your life.
20. Prioritize the tasks in your life. You can not do everything. Because if you try to, you will end up complicating your life. Instead, prioritize your tasks. Do what is important, the rest can wait.
21. Learn to look for joys in the little things of life. For example, wearing your favorite color can be a reason to celebrate. The celebration need not be grand but you can still choose to be happy.
22. Practice meditation daily. The few minutes that you spend trying to connect with your inner self will only strengthen your resolve to lead a simple life.
23. Take failures in your stride. One of the major reasons why we complicate our lives is because we are too scared to accept failures. It is okay to fail because failure gives you a chance to learn and succeed in a better way.
24. Don’t waste time trying to analyze everything that happens in your life. You just need to go with the flow if you intend to lead a simple life.
25. Spend your free time wisely. You could help others or do things that make you happy. This is very important to lead a simple life.
26. Avoid social media addiction. You do not need to be on every platform and take unnecessary peer pressure. It’s your life and you should focus on living it your way.
27. Simplify your communication if you intend to simplify your life. Avoid sugar-coating your words. The rule of leading a simple life is being crisp and honest in your messages.
28. Give up your car and buy a two-wheeler if that can take care of your needs.
29. Cautiously remove all the negative words from your dictionary. Focus on being positive and using positive words in your day to day message.
30. Get rid of all the negative influences in your life. If there are people who do not support you in your journey to lead a simpler life, steer clear from them. Such people can only bring depression and deteriorate your mental health.
31. Give up old when you bring new. Unnecessarily piling things will add to the clutter in your life.
32. Read an inspiring book. It will help you broaden your horizon and look at the brighter side in life.
33. Take time to notice things around you. Joy comes in the simplest moments of life. All you need to do is spare the time to notice these moments as they happen.
34. Invest in building good friendships. Nothing like a bunch of friends to life your mood and motivate you to live a happy life.
35. Remind yourself that nothing is impossible. Giving up on the materialistic joys as you embark on the journey of a simple life is not easy.
36. Always focus on the easier way to get things done. This will help you reduce the clutter.
37. You do not have to impress others. You have to impress yourself. Adopt this mantra to simplify your life.
38. Open your mind to change. Be willing to adapt newer and easier ways that help you simplify the complexities in life.
39. Compliment others if they do something good. Similarly, you should also be okay to accept compliments. The mind needs motivation, do not try to be modest.
40. Always chase your dreams, irrespective of your age. This is one of the best motivations that bring a lot of happiness in your life.
41. Find your work-life balance because family is just as important as work
42. Go on a vacation because it gives you time to rejuvenate and appreciate the simple things in life.
43. Never give up because each time you will learn more about how to simplify your life.
44. Be grateful for all that you have in life. Gratitude is one of the first steps to simplifying your life.
45. Listen to any music that you like. The beats help soothe the mind and aid in simplifying our thought process.
46. Learn to give back to society. The idea about simplicity is to experience joy in the little moments that make up our daily life. There is no bigger joy than making others happy.
47. Spend more time with happy people. Happiness is like a contagious feeling. And the happier you are, the more motivated you will be to lead a simple life.
48. Regularly take stock of your happy memories. These will give you the courage to adapt to a simpler life.
49. Indulge your creative side. When the creative juices flow, the mind learns to appreciate the beauty in simplicity.
50. Face your fears. If you choose to run from them, you will only complicate your life. Facing them gives you a chance to overcome these fears.
Conclusion
The journey to simplifying your life is that of incremental progress. You need to be patient and submit yourself to the desire to lead a simple and happy life. With time, you will enjoy the benefits and it will make your life more meaningful.
