How to simplify your life?
How are you holding up with your travel fetish during this pandemic? It felt so long since the last time I travel. One thing I love about traveling is not just being in a new place but just having the ability to pack up my bags and go somewhere different intrigue me.
There are a number of things I have learned while traveling. For example, always pack your medication, extra pair of socks, jeans, dress, shoes, hair accessories…the list goes on and on. Before you know it, you probably wish you can fit the entire closet into your backpack “just in case” we run into issues and find ourselves in the middle of no man’s land.
I have learned, thanks to my physical disability, to practice minimalist packing when I travel. Typically for a 5 days trip, I travel with an 18”-20” suitcase that would fit my 5-day worth of clothing, shoes, personal toilets, and makeup. On a 2 weeks trip, I travel with a 24” suitcase that would fit 2 weeks’ worth of clothing.
Minimalist packing isn’t about paring your belongings down to five pieces of clothing and calling it a day. It’s about mindfully getting rid of unnecessary items in your suitcase and making sure everything that remains has purpose and value to you as a traveler.
This same rule of minimalist packing applies to the principle behind how to simplify your life.
Evaluate
During the 4 days hike on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, I have learned to eliminate much of the unnecessary weight on my shoulder in my backpack. There were two lists of things I can carry in this bag: the essentials and the non-essentials. As the altitudes begin to elevate, the weight of each item on my back becomes a burden I had to carry. Water, first aid kit, protein bars, these are the essentials. Cellphone, camera, notebook, these are the non-essentials.
I learned very quickly on this trip that the first thing to simplify our life is to Evaluate. Take the same approach to minimalist packing as you would to decluttering your house. Assess and ask yourself is this something you can live without? Why do you want this? What can it do for you?
Let Go
Be willing to let go. Letting go is probably the most challenging lesson in life for many. Holding on to something that no longer serves you is like living in two different time zones. One foot’s in the present as you try to live your day-to-day life, and the other foot is stuck somewhere else either in the past or the future. It can make it hard to feel whole.
Whatever it is, it doesn't mean, they will or even should always be a part of our life. When you start to accept this and can be grateful for whatever their task in your life was, you can let them go eventually.
Find Purpose
Just as everything in your minimally packed suitcase should be there for a reason, everything in your life should have a purpose. Purpose gives you direction in your life. It’s the first thing you think about when you wake up. And It energizes you when you move towards the small goals that you have put upfront.
Finding your purpose isn’t something that can be done in a few days, weeks, or months. It can be a lifelong journey, and it can only be done one step at a time. You also might find that your purpose changes over time.
Areas To Simplify
When we pull ourselves away from the hustle and bustle and daily grind and rethink our priorities and consider if they are aligning with life choices and actions, we can reroute to a more intentional path.
If you are looking for some new ways to minimize stress in your life and get back to living with intention, finding new ways to simplify can help you achieve your goals. Here are eight ways to simplify the baggage your carry on this journey of life:
Evaluate and Prioritize your essentials
Dump any unsupportive/unhelpful beliefs that no longer serving you
Simplify your finance, put things on autopilot and reduce the number of accounts
Giveaway unused/unnecessary material possessions
Reduce social distractions
Stop multi-tasking
Pre-Plan your meals
Be a smart consumer
Bottom Line
During the California wildfire in 2020, many have lost their home and valuable. A colleague of mine rushed home to pack all his essentials prior to the evacuation. It finally daunt on him how many unnecessary and complicated things he had collected over the course of years. Life can easily be tangled up and become more complicated. Many of us are juggling family, work, a busy schedule, bills to pay, and a daily list of things to do.
Our time, our minds, hearts, and homes fill with stuff and our focus is drawn away from the things we want to do towards the things that we have to do.
It would be lovely to press the pause button on life so you can slow things down and catch your breath. If you can fit your entire life into a suitcase, you're doing it right. If you can fit it into a backpack - even better.
Simplifying your life is about focusing on what’s truly important to you. It’s about finding better ways to do the things that you have to do and giving yourself more room for the things you want to do.
