I just turned 56 years old last week, and as I look to the next 10 years of my life, I want to begin a journey to a more simple and slow way of life. To explain what I mean by simple and slow, I guess the easiest thing to say is that I want to be more selective in how I spend my time, how I spend my money, and to become more content by reversing what I used to think would make me happy.
You see, my husband and I have raised four children, who are now all adults. Our lives revolved around caring for them, making sure there was food in the house, they got to their school events, they got to do things they enjoyed … the typical parental type of activities. We worked hard and played hard. Probably harder than we should have, but no regrets here!
We also just became grandparents in December. This has been a fantastic change in our lives and brings us a lot of joy. We look forward to the years of spoiling our granddaughter (and any other grandchildren who may come along) in the years to come.
The main change I want to discuss today, though, is that there are goals my husband and I have now that we really didn’t think about in the past too much.
Attaining a simple and slow life means having schedules that aren’t rushed, a home that is not cluttered, and free time to do the things we want to do, rather than the things others expect of us. Slowing down doesn’t mean we want to be lazy, but it means we want to be intentional. If we want to be lazy for a day, then we can. If we want to go to an amusement park and ride roller coasters, we do it.
Part of this journey is redefining what creates contentment in our lives. No longer do we seek more possessions but strive to reduce them. This is a challenge all around, as for over 30 years, we’ve amassed way too many things. Going through everything is daunting but necessary. I imagine it will take quite some time to sort through everything we own to pare down to the items we truly want to keep.
My goal this year is to overcome the overwhelm. I will intentionally spend time each week exploring every drawer, every closet every room until I’ve culled our belongings down to a manageable and pleasing number of items; those that we use often.
Join me in this journey and let me know if you have your own suggestions for simplifying life and making contentment attainable. I look forward to seeing your comments.