After months of working at this, I do not think I am actually going to get to a simplified life, or even a minimalist life. I just want to simplify so that I can enjoy the life I have. I continue to work towards that goal.
In Our Home:
I go through spurts of getting rid of stuff. For now, I am piling it up to donate. I try not to contemplate items once I remove them. If I get nostalgic, I will want them back.
I recently weeded out and donated more paper books to our little free library. As a general rule, I now read e-library books. Paper books are great, but they require carrying, which means I read them less. Paper books I keep take up space at home. We have a small home, so I need to keep paring down, rather than building up. My library is one area in which that is fairly easy to do.
In the Kitchen:
I continue to try to pare down my pantry stores. I am realizing that, since I always like making new recipes, staples need to be minimal. No use stocking up on stuff I do not know I will use. Eggs, flour, milk, fruit, those I will use. Other stuff, I need to buy as I go.
While I like to make special breakfasts on the weekend, that has not been in the cards lately. What has been in the cards is Reese's mixes. Yes, mixes. My husband really likes Reese's chocolate, and we have been on a mission to try each and every new Reese's product. Since Reese's now makes breakfast coffee cake and muffin mixes, that has been the recipe for weekend breakfasts.
As I empty out pantry stores, I am discovering that I have too many storage receptacles. (Think the Costco peanut butter jars that are great for storage, until there are 12 empties lined up on the counter.) Therefore, I tossed some of the empties. I can also save more if I really need them.
I was making and freezing halves of recipes, to give us variety. At this point, that is just more work. If the pasta recipe feeds us for five days straight, no bother. I just won't cook for the week. Maybe this is not ideal, but it is working for us right now.
In the Realm of Personal Goals:
Having multiple goals was not working for me. Each month, I pick three things to work on, and I just have to let the rest go. I am also working to make SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (Boorgard, 2023). This month, I wanted to read seven books. That was not happening organically, so I moved to dividing the book's pages between the days of the week. Seven-hundred pages? Read 100 pages a day. It is not great to have to set goals like that, but they work.
Pat's Run went great, but I know I cannot do all the things. While I would like to run longer or do more workouts sometimes, I have to fit exercise into the time I have. If I run late getting out the door to start m exercise routine, that means I run shorter. I win some. I lose some.
In Relationships:
I stopped sending birthday cards about two years ago. I like celebrating people's birthdays, but writing is hard for me with my dystonia, so I stopped. I send texts or e-mails instead. A time has progressed, I have sent less and less snail mail. I send, "Thank you," texts or e-mails. I let gift messages sent with gifts be the cards. Hopefully people know I love and care about them. I'm just doing less.
My husband is getting ready to celebrate a big personal and professional accomplishment. I had big ideas, like taking photos and sending out announcements. None of that is happening. We are just celebrating with our parents and I purchased a special experience for him afterward. That is probably about all we will do.
Conclusion:
A simple life? I probably won't ever have it. I continue to work towards simplifying the life I have, though. I really do want to enjoy this one life God has given me to live!
Reference:
Boogard, K. (2023, December 26). How to write SMART goals. Atlassian. https://www.atlassian.com/blog/productivity/how-to-write-smart-goals
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