by Darla Youngblood
It’s a new year and lots of people make New Year’s resolutions. I quit doing that a long time ago because I found like most people I didn’t stick to them which made me feel bad about myself and I didn’t like that feeling so I stopped making them. But instead over the years I’ve made changes to my life to make my life easier and more simple making my life much more joyful happy and a great feeling of accomplishment!
As a single parent now grandparent I’ve had several areas of my life that I’ve made more simple by getting rid of things and ending relationships that wasn’t making me happy. So the following is some areas I made big changes.
1. Stuff
Over the years starting when my kids were two and three years old when I became a divorced single mom, I’d go through our clothes the kids toys and my stuff and we threw things away and donated to a charity anything that was useable. When I moved to Arizona 3 years ago, I had a storage building full of my furniture and things in San Antonio. My friend from church loaded all my stuff into a pod that was brought to the parking lot in front of my apartment. I brought it all into my apartment. All of my stuff was in storage for a little over a year when I lived in temporary housing. So it was very easy to go through each box and throw stuff away and keep anything good to donate to charity and honestly mostly just kept pictures and things I had I wanted to hang on my walls. It was so freeing! So I encourage you especially if your paying for storage to get rid of a lot of your stuff and make your life easier.
2. Relationships
I don’t like to give up on people but if I’ve had someone man or woman in my life putting me down and stressing me out a lot and I’ve told them to stop several times and they don’t then I’ve walked away and stopped talking to them which was an immediate relief of stress and my life became much easier. I recently had two seizures in one day and finally got the right diagnosis epilepsy gran mal seizures and I go unconscious. The hospital said I can’t get too stressed or I could have another seizure. So I put on Facebook and told everyone in my life I cannot argue with anyone anymore and if anyone tried to do that with me I’d have to end the relationship. It’s a matter of my life now and I could easily die from having a seizure. This has ended up being a huge blessing for me to stay unstressed and no one in my life is arguing with me at all anymore and I can’t even begin to tell you how much more peaceful my life is now! So think about what is best for yourself and your family when it comes to relationships. Every person isn’t meant to be in our lives forever. Be choosy and only keep people in your life that make you happy!
3. Less TV more books to read
I’m on the app called Goodreads. You can go on this app now and set a goal for how many books you want to read this year! It’s a awesome thing to set a goal for and keep track on this free app. Reading books and writing have always been my favorite thing to do especially going through school and college. It’s much better for you to spend time reading than watching hours of tv. If you are still raising children set a goal for them too for however many books they want to challenge themselves to read. If you have a kindle or other way of reading books on a tablet you can check out books on these from the library and when the due date comes they just take it back no more library fines for not returning books on time! The library is a great resource for checking out books so you don’t spend money on buying books.
4. Find something creative to do
There’s lots of creative fun things to do! I enjoy making crafts, taking a art class, doing ceramics or even coloring in a complicated adult coloring book . My daughter makes quilts so sewing is another creative hobby. Find that creative thing you enjoy doing for yourself and maybe even making something as a birthday or Christmas present! Doing something creative makes me so happy and of course there is that wonderful feeling of accomplishment!
So think about these areas and other areas particular to you on how you can make your life easier and more simple this year! Don’t buy into all the advertising that says you have to own an expensive car or house! Whatever you want your life to be is great! Don’t compare yourself to others! Do what makes you happy and make your life more simple enjoyable and peaceful. You can do it! I believe in you!