Daily Wellness Challenge #12

Wellness isn't always in relation to the physical body. Mental wellness is very important as well. Our days can be rather stressful; taking care of a home, raising children, working full-time, sports, errands, pursuing dreams and passions. Sometimes balance is difficult and things can get out of whack and fall to the wayside. Our home should be our sanctuary....our place of refuge and solace. We can't eliminate or control what happens in the outside world, but we can work hard to create an inside world that is as stress-free as possible, by living more simply in 2019!

I was taught at a young age, that stuff is just stuff. That if I lost everything tomorrow, I would still have what is truly important in life; my health and my loved ones. Humans have too much in their lives. Too much 'stuff', too much stress, too much to remember on a daily basis, too much to take care of on a daily basis. We are torturing ourselves with trying to obtain the best of the best and what everyone else has, when we all know the simple truth; things won't make us happy. Money won't make us happy. Happiness truly is an inside job. When you love who you are, what you stand for and how you operate on the inside....you will be truly happy in life.

Where to start? Here are some tips for simplifying your life and really doing some 'inside' work on yourself!

+ Watch less TV. Not to say that I don't love to sit down and watch movies or the ball game.....but to kill time or solve boredom by turning on the TV? You're wasting precious time that can never be given back to you.

+ Read! I admit that while I love to read and have a great collection of books...I don't often have the time to read. I wanted to change this so while I am biking at the gym on my lunch hours, I read! I'm nose deep in the middle of a book right now and am so grateful to myself for picking it up and opening the cover.

+ Organize and declutter! As I stated earlier....we have too much 'stuff'. We collect and hoard over fear that we may never find this deal again or may need to use this sometime in the future, yet year after year, the item sits untouched. Start by going through one room at a time in your home. I would start with the bedroom as this is the room that requires the most 'calm'.

+ Posses less clothing! The average successful and wealthy person has a very limited set of clothing options, as this way they have more time to focus on things that truly matter. By finding items that already match one another and by having a smaller wardrobe, you'll have more time to focus on other things in life and this can help you to drastically simplify your life. If you want to focus on this as one of the ways to simplify your life, start by looking at the items you wear the most and get rid of the one you haven’t worn in months. It can feel really good to clean out your closet! You can then start to build your wardrobe around the items you know you love and will wear more often.

+ Automate your bill payments and go paperless! Automating your bills and income payments has only gotten easier and easier. You can have your pay directly deposited into your bank account, you can select to auto-pay your bills, you can even auto-pay your monthly credit card payments. Sometimes, going paperless can give you discounts on some of the payment you make on a regular monthly basis.

+ Work to gain more confidence! Confidence in my opinion, can really help you to live a more simple life. It isn't an overnight thing, rather it starts by finding small ways to trust and believe in yourself.

A boost in confidence can help to lead you to:

• Attaining the things you deserve in life.

• Getting the job you want.

• Making more money.

• Reaching your dreams.

• Meeting new people.

• Networking like a boss.

• Managing a business

+ Use your phone calendar or a daily planner. I have to embarrassingly admit...that I still use a paper planner. It has been something that I have done my entire life and it works for me! I carry it in my purse and I write down appointments, bills amounts and due dates and to-do items. Oddly enough....many people don't do this....I find it crazy to try and keep it all straight in my head. That is just added and unneeded stress!

+ Slow down. There are some days when it feels like all you are doing is rushing from one thing to the next. The next thing you know, you’re climbing into bed wondering how the day went. Maybe you’re rushing through life on an even larger scale - spending college only thinking about graduation, after graduation only thinking about a job, working and only thinking about starting a family, until everything has passed by and you are wondering what you did with your life. It is exciting to think about the future, but if you stop to look around at where you are right now, you might be surprised by how good it is. Like many people I know, I'm guilty of running through life too quickly and not stopping to really enjoy it. However, by slowing down, we can learn to do things correctly, enjoy things more, and have the ability to start living simply.

+ Take a small amount of every day, to sit in peace. We all live in a world that is constantly moving and making noise. However, when was the last time you just sat down in complete silence with no distractions? For the average person, this is probably a rare occurrence. Sitting silently can help you reflect on your life and what’s going on in the world around you. It can also help you relax, destress, and clear your mind. I’m not saying that you need to start a full on meditation practice, unless that’s what you want, but you can try something easy like turning off the radio while you’re in the car, wait in the grocery store checkout line without checking your phone, or going for a walk by yourself. By clearing out the distractions, you will probably find that your mind lets you focus on what’s important.

I've stated in previous blogs, that you can't pour from an empty cup....that you need to take care of you first! Life can be lived in more simple ways...it starts with and open mind and a willingness to change.

xo

#simplelife #livesimply #destress #declutter