“Life is a matter of choices,
and every choice you make makes you.”
—John C. Maxwell
You've decided that a more simple life sounds wonderful. More time for family and friends, a clutter-free home, more money, and opportunities to grow and do things you enjoy more. So what’s the next step?
Living a more abundant life does not begin by doing a garage sale or donating half of your belongings to charity. It does not begin by emptying your calendar of unnecessary commitments or becoming a master in the art of saying no. It doesn’t begin by planning a trip with your family so you can spend more time together. No. Change happens after one thing and one thing only: choice. As a human being with free choice, you have have to choose change, you have to choose that simple life. Once you've decided this is the way to go, then you can implement change.
There are a few things that can motivate your decision. Maybe you are feeling unhappy with the materialistic life you find yourself prisoner of. Maybe you're realizing your children are growing and you are missing out on the best of their growing years. Whatever the reason, you have that slightly uneasy feeling that things are not exactly how they should be, so you want to take steps to improve your life.
You may also be motivated by the fact that you’ve had enough of life in the fast lane. That you’ve had it with sleeping less than the recommended 7-8 hours per night, and that it’s time to move the bags under your eyes to a different zip code. That you’re done working late hours at the office and missing dinner with the family. You must decide that you’ve had it with the clutter in your home and the constant cleaning, organizing, and stuff shuffling.
I once heard American businessman and motivational speaker Dave Ramsey, speaking on eliminating debt, say that we have to be “sick and tired of being sick and tired” in order to change and become debt free. He was not the first one to say this. Civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hammer said this same sentence in 1964 on national TV when talking about the unfair treatment of African Americans in Mississippi. Both personalities in their own way, were tired of how things were going, and wanted to change. And change they did! Just read their stories.
Whether you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired or you’re just passively wanting to improve your life, you are finally ready to choose change. For me personally, I had to decide I was done carrying my stuff around from place to place with all our moves in order to begin simplifying my belongings. I also had had enough of frequent colds, allergies, and the nagging gallbladder discomfort in order to change my diet and start filling this one body I’m given with nutritious foods. To simplify my calendar was a more passive choice, but I did it once I realized how it could improve my life. Once the choice to change had been made, it was much easier to carry it through.
As you read these words, you may be thinking of things that you can improve in your life. As you look around you may notice you can’t see the top of your desk because it’s full of stuff. Or maybe you have your head buried on your phone while your children play alone in the playground. Perhaps you’re just about to add one more thing to your to-do list, or you just realized that the money has ended before the month. In your mind you know it's time for a change and you've decided to choose change. Maybe it’s time to let go of clothes you haven’t used in a long time. Perhaps it’s time to trim your recipe collection or clean your inbox of junk mail. This may be the right time to stop working late at the office. Whatever it is know that abundant living has been promised to you no matter where you live or how old you are, so it's yours to have. Don't allow yourself to be robbed of that promise. Let the journey to a more abundant life begin! It won't be easy, but it will be so worth it!
References:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/remembering-civil-rights-heroine-fannie-lou-hamer-im-sick-and-tired-of-being-sick-and-tired
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