The Beauty of Simplicity

Simple living flies in the face of the common values of the Western world. Living simply entails stripping away the nonessential and focusing your time and energy on the things that matter the most. You’re left with a life filled with meaning, a life that is lived on your own terms. You have the time and space to pursue your interests and to create the life you truly desire.

Simplicity provides many surprising benefits:

1. Your finances improve. Sell the stuff you don’t need any more and only purchase items you love or need. Fewer things can permit living in a smaller space. If you’re spending less, your finances are bound to be on a more secure footing.

• Having an excess of financial resources eliminates a lot of the stress from life. The peace of mind you enjoy is worth the minimal sacrifice.

2. You naturally avoid overreacting. Living a simple lifestyle allows you to see the reality of the situation more easily. Your mind is less stressed because it has less to worry about. You won’t make your life more difficult by rushing to a hasty decision.

3. You strengthen your health. By focusing on what’s most important, your stress levels will be lower and your health will benefit. Stress can affect your mood, blood pressure, and mental health, just to name a few.

4. Your relationships become deeper and more meaningful. You might choose to have fewer friends, but the friends you have will be much closer. It’s easier to focus on the other person when your life is simpler. The interaction is also sincerer, since you’re free of the need to impress them.

5. Simplicity and freedom go hand in hand. The more things you own, the more responsibilities you have, the more you need to service your ego, and the less freedom you enjoy.

• Simplicity is all about focusing on what’s most important to you and letting go of the rest. A simple life provides freedom.

6. You learn more about yourself. When you’re not distracting yourself with your iPhone 27 and stressed about becoming a CEO before the age of 40, you have the time and mental space to learn more about yourself.

7. Your life is less cluttered. Fewer possessions and commitments results in less clutter. This means you’ll spend less time cleaning and organizing. Naturally, you’ll have more free time at your disposal. Imagine not having to spend so much time keeping your life organized and dealing with all the things you don’t need or want.

8. You can be true to yourself and your values. Modern society is focused on many things that don’t lead to happiness and fulfillment. A big house, fancy car, and a second home in Aspen never made anyone happy. A complex life with a lot of expenses has made plenty of people miserable, however.

• When you embrace simplicity, you’re no longer influenced by the materialistic values of society. You can follow your own conscience, without concern for appearances.

9. More free time. How will you spend all the extra time you’ll enjoy as a benefit of living a simple life? This is one of the greatest benefits of simple living. It can be hard to learn to relax when you’re used to running around trying to get everything done. But free time is a gift.

Is life running you ragged? Have you been successful by conventional norms, but feeling unfulfilled? There’s another option. You can buck convention and live by a simpler set of rules, rules that give you the freedom to enjoy your life.