“I just want to simplify things” she said.

I hear it so often.

This time it was in reference to reaching a point in her life where she was moving into a new season as an empty nester, and she was feeling lost.

She had done so much for so long, for so many others, that she wasn’t sure where she could go, or who she could be next.

Maybe you have felt that posture of pleasing.  Not feeling comfortable saying no, or saying yes just to please someone else.

Maybe the pleasing was for yourself because saying no just felt out of your comfort box.

So you said yes, probably before you even realized what you were actually saying.

There are so many great yeses that can be said.

But here we were this night, making a vision board at one of my workshops, and she was sharing how lost she felt and how excited she was to be there and dreaming.

She had poured herself into so many other things for so long, she wasn’t sure how to find herself in the pause.

We hear about the simple a lot these days.

Think minimalizing.  It’s a bit of a trend.  People are talking about living with less, buying less, purging excess, and house designs that use less instead of more.

What we rarely translate it into is simplifying our priorities and what we say yes to, in order to match what is most important. 

After all, how can you say no to something that is good?

That’s how clutter begins, and gathers.

We can “get” the avoidance of the cluttered home, but we miss the cluttered mind and time.

My husband and I just listed our house last summer and the first thing the real estate company asked us to do was to simplify.  To have cleared counters and rooms.  Put away extra decorating.  Make our dining room table smaller and hide the extra chairs somewhere.  Put the coffee maker out of sight.  Have nothing in the showers or on the bathroom counters.

They wanted us to simplify the decor so it was more appealing to buyers.

It reminded me of how we collect thoughts, opinions, and “yeses” until we just aren’t sure anymore.

Where is your clutter?

Where are you looking for more of the simple?

I’m sure you have heard it before, but we all have the same 24 hours in our days.  When we run out of time, we start to feel overwhelmed … and confused.

What do you drop?

What is most important to you?

What if I asked you who you wanted to be?  Would you know?

The word simple actually means, “easily understood or done, presenting no difficulty, uncomplicated in design”.

Instead of feeling unsure of where to say no or maybe that you’re not doing enough so you keep saying yes, clarity of what is most important to you and who you want to be actually makes what is next easier to understand and uncomplicated in what to “do”.

It becomes about who you want to be, and that begins your roadmap.  Your framework.  Your filter.

What is a yes you have said lately just because you felt you should?

What is something you do habitually because you always have but don’t need to do anymore?

How would your best you respond in the situations you face every day?

If you are searching for the simple, let me encourage you, you can lead a life that is uncomplicated in design.  You can actually design a life of clarity and simplicity.

I am here and would love to help you discover it.