Having a Simpler Life

What hurdles are we up against that make having a simpler life difficult? In my years of pursuing LIFE ON PURPOSE, and in my experience life coaching women, I know that there can be a lot of “WHY NOTs” that pop up for us. They tell us a lot about our own limiting mindsets and obstacles that hold us back.

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Today we will focus on PART TWO of the You CAN Simplify Your Life series with the 10 Reasons Why Your Life is Not Simpler

Simple Life

Many of us want to have a simpler life, but we don’t. What hurdles are we up against that make this change hard?

REMEMBER, whatever is sticking out for you as a possible reason, that you aren’t doing anything ‘wrong’. You are just doing what you have always done and that is your brain’s goal: Efficiency! Think what you’ve always thought, do what you’ve always done, live on auto-pilot and conserve energy.

Get the journalling worksheets that go with this episode

10 Reasons Why Your Life is Not Simpler

1. We are buying into the glorification of “busy”

We live in a culture of busy that tells us (moms!) that if you aren’t busy you are “lazy.” I think it all comes down to our motives for “being busy.” I love to turn to a tool like the Enneagram for this because the Enneagram is so focused on our inner motives.

2. We don’t know what we want

The day I realized I didn’t want this hand-me-down pre-fabricated template of what a successful life looks like, it felt like my life was a blank canvas. How many of us know what we REALLY want from our lives? (We will talk about this more next part of this series!)

3. We don’t know how to start

If you have thought a lot about simplifying your life, you have probably also met a lot of internal resistance. What reasons are popping up for you about why it’s not the “right time”?
In order to start something you need to feel willing, ready and able.

4. We don’t know how to maintain it

I am the first one to advocate for making list and plans, but maintaining ANYTHING also needs motivation and strategy to maintain. (We will dig into this more in the final part of this series.)

5. We aren’t showing up well

Our life will never ever feel simple or be simple until we can show up well for it: with feelings that are proactive, positive, and present. In all my experience as an adult woman, wife, life coach, friend, and mom I feel that everything comes down to this one thing: how we show up. (I will talk about this more in Part Three.)

6. We are making a statement

If we say we want to make a change, but we almost live in a way that is the opposite we are probably making a statement to our own inner beliefs or to the expectations of others.

7. We don’t think our resources are important or precious

We look at all our resources through a lens of how “renewable” or “precious” they are to us. Every resource is yours to be a good steward of, which resource feels most neglected?

8. We can’t say no to others

Things feel noble when we are someone who “puts others first,” but all this serving can still be a form of striving for security and acceptance.

9. We can’t say no to ourselves

I’m not talking about “putting ourselves first.” I am talking about having self-control and showing up for ourselves to actually follow through on the actions we know we want—the ones that give us life instead of distracting us from life.

10. We don’t see that we DO have control

When we become aware that we actually DO have control, we also become aware that nobody else will ever do this for us. It is our responsibility, our right and our privilege to take control of our life.

By the way, I go more in-depth on these 10 reasons your life is not simple in the blog post version of this episode.

The Worksheets

I really took a long time to create the worksheets for this part. These worksheets will go through each of the reasons above, outline some indicators it might apply to you and provide you with a task or step to unpack it further.

Links mentioned:

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31. 10 things holding you back from simplifying your life (Part 2 of You Can Simplify Your Life)