How To Simplify Life When Life Isn’t Simple

Life is rarely simple.

In fact, the majority of the time, life is filled with seasons that are busy and overwhelming. So how do we deal with and strive for a simpler way of living when it seems like everything around us is running at a hectic and chaotic pace?

Here are a few ways I’m reminding myself that even when life isn’t simple I can find moments of peace:

Remind Yourself What’s Important In Life

The first thing I return to every time is grounding myself in what’s most important. For me personally, that’s my faith and family. It helps me find peace in moments of turbulence or busy days.

Take a few moments to remind yourself of what you consider to be most important in your life. Maybe even write these things out somewhere that you can read them daily to refocus your thoughts.

Give Your Schedule a Reality Check

One of the reasons life can feel hectic is when our schedules get out of control and seem to be in charge of us instead of the other way around.

In an overwhelming season, it’s a good idea to take a step back and re-evaluate your schedule at a high level to see if there’s anything you can cut out (even temporarily!) to provide you with more breathing room.

Eliminating anything that isn’t life-giving or beneficial in difficult times can allow you to redirect your energy to focus on what you need to. This doesn’t mean you have to cut certain things out of your life forever, but taking a break or sabbatical from certain activities can provide you with the space and rest you may need.

Give Your Habits a Reality Check

We always say we don’t have enough time in the day, but at the same time, we would say we spend too much time scrolling on our phones, answering emails, or watching TV. We need to be honest with ourselves and take an inventory of the habits that actually drain us instead of fulfilling us.

Here’s how to start—identify the time-wasting habits and take actionable steps to remove those habits or decrease them in your life.

For example, if scrolling on your phone is an issue, you can set time limits, get an accountability partner, or put your phone away an hour before bed.

If constantly getting distracted by emails is your bad habit, set certain response times and turn off your notifications. For TV shows, put some boundaries in place to avoid mindless TV watching. Maybe you set time limits or find a show that you like watching and choose to watch it with others so it becomes an intentional social activity (and potentially turns it into a positive outlet!).

Decluttering

I always get overwhelmed by physical clutter. When I’m in a busy season, I tend to want to declutter my house.

Start by finding the stress points in your house.

For example, if I feel stressed every time I open my pantry, that creates an unnecessary point of tension in my day.

We have all these little stress areas in our house and when we’re confronted with them multiple times a day it spikes our stress levels. In a season that’s not simple, why would we allow areas of our home to pile on the stress even more?

Here’s the thing—sometimes the places in our house that cause us the most stress aren’t the ones we think about first. If someone asked me to list a few places in my house that I think I should declutter, I might include our maintenance room or our nursery closet. However, it took me doing the activity below to realize that there were actually other more important places that were causing little stress spikes more frequently in my life.

Here’s what to do:

Go through your day like normal, and whenever you’re confronted with an area of your house (like your pantry, medicine cabinet, etc.) that causes stress, make a note in your Notes app on your phone or in a physical notebook. Fight the urge to start cleaning and just move along with your day as normal—what you’ll end up with at the end of the day is an actionable inventory of the areas in your home that are causing you the most stress.

By tackling this list, you can instantly better your home and daily stress. From here on in, you can follow any decluttering or organizing techniques you favour to work through this list. I would recommend doing just one space at a time to avoid taking on too much or feeling overwhelmed.

Find The Joy

It’s easy to focus on the negative.

We need to inject some joy and happiness into our lives, especially when we’re faced with tough times! Make a quick list of some things that bring you joy—talking with a friend, going for a walk, enjoying a good cup of coffee—and do one thing per day.

There’s no need to make this one more difficult—it’s as simple as finding something that makes you smile. Intentionally seek the positive and it will help put life back into perspective when things seem overwhelming and busy.

What are some ways that you simplify your life?