There is no one way to regain that balance. Sometimes it is a motorcycle ride and other times it is deep cleaning the house. I’m complex that way I guess. Yet I know that feeling when it finally sinks deep in my bones. The balance point for me being the place where I feel in control of my own life again; where the things on my mind are cleared and I can define my own next step. Simplicity for me seems to be control of my own space, body, mind, soul and heart. The embodiment of who I am defined by where I want to be in life and how I’ll get there. My map of finding that source of just being me.
If you truly want to know someone consider what makes their life simple. When my life is simple I am happiest and life is easier. It is when I am most me. It is where I am most comfortable being me without the guard up and labels of my life being more relevant than me. The woman I feel on the inside that struggles to find her voice, be bold and brave and all the things I wish I could bring the surface in more than just rare occasions. Having more spaces in my life where I can be just that is what caused me to come up with this whole adventure of how to live more naturally. The ability to be in this space where I am happiest and life is easy more often than not sounds like a dream some days and yet it is where I crave to be most.
When we intentionally transform things in our life to support feeling our best does not always instantaneous results. I think that too is one of the misnomers that leads people to believing this living naturally thing doesn’t work. If it is isn’t instant then it must not be working so why did I bother? We fail to remember it takes a bit sometimes to find our balance, path and center. We are so used to feeling off balance and on some jaded path to nowhere that it doesn’t feel like anything special at first when we do hit on the right frequency. It feels so foreign we think this is just a nowhere path taking us down some rabbit hole that will not reap any benefit. It is quickly dismissed and we get back on where we were before, mindless, numb, tired, stressed out and worried all the time.
The map we need to be following is the one that leads us to simplicity. It won’t feel special or sparkly. There won’t be fanfare for what we’re doing and yet it is the path that leads us to the best feeling inside of us physically and emotionally. The burdens are shed and we can breathe freely. That deep cleansing breath of fresh air that tells us we made it. We are alright and can heal, rest, stand up and see the beauty around us. There is no more fighting for what we want because we know most of what we were pursuing wasn’t what we really wanted anyway.
Living with simplicity looks like the mornings we wake up and feel refreshed. Seriously, when was the last time you woke up in the morning and felt that way? From there we live our day happy, with energy, fueling our body with good foods, and actually enjoying our life even if we are working. Sounds incredible right? Here too the ability to create that though are not always instant. We have to intentionally build that life and work towards establishing the health, financial stability and lifestyle that allows it to flourish.
Where I believe most people get it wrong is in thinking this way of life is something we have to sell our soul to have. That we have to work 50 hours a week at a job we hate to live that way that gives us what we want in our life. The work I’m talking about though is not that. There is work, we will have jobs but we do things that even in our work promote this satisfaction and contentment that most jobs don’t give us. It is pursuing this lifestyle in all areas of our life including what we earn pay doing.
To find our map in this simplicity life starts with releasing, really letting go of what doesn’t serve us. The pursuit of things we were told we should be doing in life, how we should be living and where and instead looking within us. What we want most that truly makes us happy. When I did this exercise alone I saw a large portion of what I was doing not fitting and aligning into the happy category. My job, career, how we spent money, my health, weight, friends, and more were not supporting the map to simplicity. It was stressful, I had pain in my body and life, I was burned out from trying to have it all!
It took realizing that having it all doesn’t mean killing ourselves to get it. It is not working until we are about to crash or striving for the perfect life that is Pinterest ready at all moments. It is not living in debt and paycheck-to-paycheck for abusive and toxic employers who in a moment’s notice would lay us off. The map to simplicity is about taking back our own life, decisions, actions and controls to build the life we really want in all areas.
When we recognize what isn’t supporting and serving that vision of our life we start to then look at where to start rebuilding what will do that for us. In my own life, it started with removing toxic products in our home and replacing them with things that built up our health. From there it started to look like opportunities to expand that into my work, friends, choices I made, money I spent and how all of that started to work together to represent my goals. The real goals I wanted that truly supported me feeling my best and being happy.
It wasn’t always easy and sometimes it still isn’t. I have made sweeping improvements in my life through this journey but I am still growing. There is still work to be done too. Yet if I hadn’t started on any of it, I wouldn’t have realized this was even possible. I would have still be chasing something I thought I was supposed to want in life and wondering why I didn’t have the energy or money to enjoy it.
If you’re ready to explore your map to simplicity, let’s talk. As part of working with me I help you find the solutions and products to help start that transition and grow into a lifestyle that serves you naturally. Visit me at dragonspitapothecary.com to chat.