Simplifying your life shouldn’t cause overwhelm

Mar 14, 2023

A question I ask often and try and act on is “How can I simplify my life to the things I want without feeling overwhelmed?”

The fact I get overwhelmed in simplifying my life is a tell that I’m not actually simplifying my life at all.

If the act of simplifying is causing overwhelm then I suspect it’s actually about putting more concerted effort on doing certain things more rather than living them.

I’ve developed an unhealthy relationship between focus and doing. To focus on something is to do more of it. Instead, I need to think about focus as “dwelling” in a part of my life more.

Rather than doing more in my life I need to focus on being present in my life more.

Once I actually start occupying my life and experiencing it then doing things can naturally flow from that.

An example: Focusing more on my family life will give me better perspective on what I already have (what went well) and how I can nurture it even more (even better if).

A lot of the time I strike out to do things that I think I should do before I’ve even sat and experienced what it is I’m trying to change. Maybe it doesn’t need changing at all.