What does it mean to simplify your life? Maybe there isn’t an easy answer but you can feel a need for some shift. Our family is on a journey right now to do just that!
What does it mean to simplify your life?
The definition of simple is: being easy to understand or do, as being plain or not elaborate, or as being ordinary or common.
The definition of simplify is: to make less complex or complicated; make plainer or easier.
I think this can look different for every family and every situation. In our family it has looked like moving away from what society and culture says is “normal” and leaning into what God has specifically for our family. To us it meant slowing down. Cutting things out. Simplifying.
Spending more time as a family
For our family it meant pulling our daughter out of public school and deciding to homeschool. I just felt like there wasn’t ever enough time in our day to get everything done. To spend time with her, to teach her things that mattered, to just be a family! You can read more about our reasons we homeschool here.
Adjusting Expectations
I also felt like I couldn’t keep up. Do you ever feel like that? How is it possible that that woman is feeding her family well, keeping her house clean, exercising, having her kids in a million activities AND running a side hustle?? And I can’t even remember when the last time I washed the sheets was! I have come to learn that this usually means a few things.
- It’s a straight lie from the devil that you are the only one that can’t do it all and can’t keep up.
- You’re seeing their highlight reel and not what actually goes on in their day.
- God gifts different people differently and gives us the capacity for what He has for us and our family, not someone else’s family.
- And lastly… that maybe some things in your life need to be adjusted. Including your expectations.
Rethinking Food
We’re working on simplifying what we eat as well. When Nate and I started to really learn more about our health we saw that changes needed to be made. Both of us had high cholesterol among other things, and my inflammation markers were scary high. We never ate awfully, we didn’t eat fried foods or fast food very often so I thought we were good but our bodies were telling another story! We have tried to shift to whole foods and being as close to the source as possible. Growing what we can and then outsourcing for meat and dairy as locally as we can!
Prioritizing
We are taking steps to figure out what our priorities are. Going against the idea that we have to do everything that is offered (for both our kids and ourselves). It means saying no to things like t-ball or most organized sports. Saying no to every small group (that we really would love to attend!!). And carving out time in our schedule for things like regular date nights, regular nights with the kids, and nights for hosting and hanging out with friends.
Decluttering
Turns out we have (I say have because it’s still a huge work in progress) WAY too much stuff!! I thought it was smart to keep lots of toys and kitchen items just in case I needed them or the kids got bored! But what I realized was that by looking at the constant clutter it was so much more stressful to me than being creative and finding things for the kids to do, or finding a different way to make a recipe. I started slowly getting rid of things and I could feel my stress physically leaving my body!
Be encouraged!
I hope that this shows a little of why we made the choice to start simplifying our lives. I pray that it encourages you as well! If you’re feeling burnt out and like you’re wanting to make some changes you can start by checking out this free guide with 5 Easy Ways to Start Simplifying Your Life Today!
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