There’s a movement happening right now where people are wanting out. Out of systems that are broken, and out of schedules they hate. Lately, everyone is wanting to know how to live simply even when you have a busy life.
I totally get it! You don’t want to have such a busy schedule that you miss the moments that are important to you. You are craving less stress, less mental clutter, and you feel like you’d give anything to live a more simple life.
I’m here to encourage you that it actually IS possible to leave the rat race behind, and have time to experience the good things in life. Let’s chat about it.
- Simple, not easy
- A modern world
- Cutting back
- Simple time management
- Decide what’s important, and do it
- Work hard and be busy
- Rest
- You can do this
Simple, not easy
There’s a common misconception that living a simpler life means doing LESS, or only participating in EASY tasks. Or, some believe that simple living means having a home in the backwoods, where you grow all your own food, make every article of clothing yourself, and have to walk outside to the well pump in order to access your water. Basically, they think it means living “Little House On The Prairie” style!
While some aspects of that image do actually appeal to me (not the walking outside to the well pump part…ha), it is not what I’m referring to as simple living.
Simple living often requires a lot of hard work, and it doesn’t mean leaving modern society in the dust. (It can, if that’s your goal…but it certainly doesn’t have to).
A Modern World
Unless you’re Amish, chances are you enjoy many of our modern conveniences today. I know I sure do! Knowing how to live simply when you have busy lives doesn’t mean learning how to live without modern technology.
However, one element of living simply means sifting through all the distractions and unnecessary things that our modern world has to offer, and being honest with yourself about what will actually help you achieve a more simple way of living.
Let me give you an example from my own life.
The Breadmaker Bully
I love being in my kitchen! I am all for some good kitchen appliances, like my KitchenAid mixer – I use that a lot! So for me, that is a modern technology that is actually encouraging me to spend more time in the kitchen, which is something that’s important to me.
But there are many other gadgets and small appliances that were actually hindering my love for the kitchen because they were cluttering up my counter space, and my mental health. The bread maker was one of them.
I had always wanted to learn how to bake bread. But the idea of using our bread maker just didn’t attract me to the process, so I kept putting it off. It got to the point where just looking at it would make me feel bad about myself for not learning how to bake bread yet.
It wasn’t until I got rid of the bread maker and learned how to knead bread dough with my hands, that I developed an absolute passion for baking homemade bread.
Just because something is promising to make a certain task easier, doesn’t mean it’s going to simplify YOUR life. Sometimes, doing things the basic way (or even the longer way), ends up being the better way for YOU.
Simple living involves embracing the modern world we’re part of, but also doing frequent audits of the technologies that are supporting our goals vs distracting, or possibly even discouraging us from living the life we want to live.
Cutting Back
When you have a busy life, cutting back on your to-do list might sound impossible. And I’m sure there are certain things in your busy schedule that you absolutely must keep in place. That’s okay.
But when you are wanting a slower pace of life, and want more quality time for the activities or people that really matter, you may have to make some adjustments. And this can be hard, especially if you’re a people pleaser! I know this from experience….
What does this mean? It means saying “no” (that’s right, I’m giving you permission to say no), to certain invites or activities that pull you away from the most important things in your life. For me, that’s my family time.
I do whatever I can to protect my time with my husband and kids. They are my priority, and everything else comes second. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy other aspects of my life, I most definitely do. But, it does mean that I make a conscious decision to say no to certain things that I know will hinder that priority.
In today’s world, people spend a lot of time on commitments that don’t really matter to them, because they feel obligated to say yes. This contributes to what we all refer to as “the rat race”. Learning to say “no” is a great way to break that cycle. It’s also a big part of simple living.
Here are some examples of things you may need to cut back on:
- non essential work commitments
- volunteering
- social invites
- extra-curricular activities for your kids
- church commitments
I’m not saying don’t EVER do any of these things. Of course you can still have a social life. All I’m saying is be intentional about balancing out how much you say yes to, so that you don’t end up sacrificing your priorities.
So, start today. Think about where you can cut back and start saying no. You will be ok. It gets easier over time, I promise!
Simple Time Management
This sort of piggybacks on what I just talked about. After you have cut back on some unnecessary or perhaps even unhealthy commitments, you want to make sure that you are managing your time well.
As a stay at home mom and homeschooling mom of 2, with a small homestead to manage, it’s crucial that I stay at least somewhat organized.
I’m not the kind of girl to plan out every single day right down to the hour. But I do take my daily schedule and put it into blocks of time. This means that I always know what I’ll be doing next, and I don’t end up wasting mental energy worrying about when I’ll have time for something. These time blocks also work really well for my kids.
Do whatever works for you though. Decide what YOUR best way is to manage your time, and then do it. If you’re someone who needs a paper schedule to plan out your day hour by hour, great! I will caution you though – if you have young children, especially if you homeschool them, try to only use that hourly schedule as a guide. Not a concrete plan. Having kids in the house all day and homeschooling them requires quite a bit of flexibility.
If you are a homeschool parent and you’re looking for some help on how to set a good routine, this article on creating a morning routine that actually works, may be of interest to you!
Decide what’s important, and do it
To me, if I were to sum up what “living a simple life” means, I’d have to say that it means actively choosing to live with purpose and intention, regardless of how society is suggesting you live.
Think about what your goals are and how you could achieve them. Even if the ways to achieve them are hard and scary, brainstorm them. What are some small changes you could make to get you going? Have lots of discussions with your spouse or family members about where you feel your life is headed. Start making little decisions (like saying no), and you will begin to see and feel the difference.
My husband and I have slowly made our way into our current life. It was a step-by-step process. Sometimes we were making small changes, but some of those steps were really big and scary! For example, when we sold our house and bought a smaller one in order to live off of one income instead of two, so I could focus on homeschooling the kids.
That wasn’t a quick, easy decision. But we decided what was ultimately most important to us and then we did what we had to do to make that work. We choose to live a very intentional life with less money and less stuff. But for US, that also means a happier life.
You may not have to do anything like what we did, but you need to decide how important the life you want to live actually is to you, and then be ready to make the changes and decisions required in order to achieve it.
Don’t be afraid to make the changes needed. Letting go of something that is preventing you from living the simple, purposeful life you desire is extremely freeing.
Work Hard and Be Busy
I know that this is all about how to live simply when you have a busy life. So it might sound odd that I’m telling you to be busy. But like I stated before, simple living doesn’t always mean doing LESS, or being less busy. But it is a different kind of busy.
What does busy mean when you live simply?
Simple living is a satisfying and fulfilling type of busy. For example, I homeschool my children, take care of the household, manage a large garden, some animals, and more. I’m very busy, but ALL of my daily tasks contribute towards building the lifestyle we are trying to live. I put in a lot of hard work every day, but my work is allowing the things and people I value to be put first.
Intentional, simple living means less time wasted on things that don’t matter, and more time spent on all the big, and little things, that do. There’s a sweet simplicity to working hard for the things that matter. And that’s the kind of “busy” you want to aim for.
Rest
Taking time to rest is an absolute must. Even God Himself took the 7th day to rest after creating the world. Now, God didn’t take a day of rest because He was tired – God does not get tired (Psalm 121:4). He did this to teach us that rest is important.
When you are constantly going, and worrying about everyone else…it means you will often neglect your own needs. (As a mom, I’ve been guilty of this more times than I can count. So as I say this to you, I’m also saying it to myself!) We have a real need to rest, but the pace of which our modern society moves often makes resting very hard to fit in, and sometimes, even looks down on it.
As you move towards living a more simple life, taking time for rest gets easier. Prioritizing what’s important includes rest, and as you scale back the unnecessary things in your life, rest will naturally start to take it’s rightful place in your life again.
You Can Do This
At the end of the day, being busy is not a reason to say you can’t have a simple life. Be very honest with yourself when you look at your schedule or daily routine, and start cutting back on the unnecessary things as soon as possible. This will give you more free time to pursue whatever it is that will contribute to YOUR simple living journey.
If you’re wanting to make big changes like moving to a new location, changing careers, or leaving your job to homeschool your children – please know that there IS a way. You may have to get creative in order to find it, but you CAN do it.
And if your desires are simply to make small changes here and there in order to prioritize the most important things in your life, there is no reason you can’t.
You really can achieve a slower pace of life, with more time spent on what matters to you. You can escape the rat race and live an intentional and fulfilling lifestyle. Don’t let the big picture lead to overwhelm. Start small with what’s right in front of you.
Learn to say no when necessary. Start managing your time differently. Evaluate what may be cluttering up your mind and calendar, and prioritize time for the simple things that bring you the most joy. Living a simple life actually is within reach.
Just remember, this is YOUR life, and you really can live it differently if you want to.
Blessings!
~Maryann
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