I refuse to be manipulated. I will not allow anyone to tell me what I need to possess or become in order to be “better” than I am now. The noise they create fills my brain to the brim and does nothing but distract me.
They say if I have their things it will make me happy but because there are always new things to need and want it has become obvious to me that if I buy into their thinking I will never be happy because I will always be chasing “stuff” before I can get to that point of enough. Always needing, wanting and wishing doesn’t make me happy.
After Christmas each year I refrain from purchasing anything. I shop for food and birthday gifts for family whose birthday falls in my “white-out zone”. It began a few years ago, at that time I started with one month and now reaches from January to my birthday at the end of May and it has become the best months of my entire year. I still try to avoid being pulled in the rest of the year but give myself a bit more leeway since I begin Christmas shopping and work room by room updating and deep cleaning through the house during June through December so I actually need things I buy.
I have in the process, created space in my life to focus upon my wellness. Little by little replacing the distractions provided by those selling me things (and yes they are very good at it). All that time spent thinking, dreaming, wishing, and planning for new things to add to my world.
I have awakened to the fact that instead of going through ads looking for things I didn’t need until I saw them advertised, I am so much happier if I take my dog for a stroll through the park instead of running to the store to get that sale item and coming home with things I don’t love or need.
I have replaced the Sunday paper ads with coffee and a delicious recipe from a cook book that had previously remained unopened for years on my shelf. I have reread books that I love and even get to some that have remained in a stack in my office for someday instead of browsing on Amazon and then being enticed to click on the ads there directing me to the exact things I had been looking for when I was there the last time.
I have learned to make my own beauty products out of my kitchen which are so much healthier because they are chemical free.
Where I would spend hours at TJ Maxx and Marshalls buying clothes because they were a good deal. By stopping I realized that they didn’t go with anything else in my closet. I used to feel like I didn’t have anything to wear but now just shopping around my birthday and again just before Christmas has been the answer for me. I have created a system of the perfect mix of pieces so I am now ready for any event that comes my way.
Because I plan my meals and buy the bulk of my groceries once a month we eat what I plan for with the flexibility of room to eat out if the mood hits but I can tell you that knowing that you have something yummy either in the crock pot already cooking or have planned and everything you need to make it is just waiting for you instead of a trip to the store only to trudge home and cook is an amazing feeling. I spend so much less on groceries and it only takes me 15 minutes to buy fruits and vegetables, bread and milk the other three weeks if the month.
Now I have to tell you that I have gotten so many requests for how I have worked this all out and I will be sharing all of that with you, my Inner Circle, but the biggest motivating factor for all of this is ~ I paid close attention to how each change I made impacted my health and overall wellness for the better.
Before you think you could never do this, think again. I don’t have some amazing super human discipline or assistants to help me get this all in order, in fact quite the opposite. The choices became easier when I began really looking at all the things I just did by habit and little by little I filled my freed up time with more empowering choices. I became aware of ~ how I felt physically ~ how I responded to my family when I wasn’t stressed all the time, how the guilt and stress faded away when I wasn’t worried about being the perfect mom, always falling short of my standards and feeling like a failure when I was constantly grabbing drive- thru or take out and always rushing to catch up but never succeeding.
Life began to work for me as I began to put my well-being and that of my family ahead of things to keep my mind occupied and my BIG MOMENT OF REALIZING that simplicity is not deprivation.
So if you are ready for change then think about what drives you to the brink and find a way to simplify, streamline or eliminate entirely and most importantly keep a keen eye out for two things; first – fill the time you create with something that enriches you do not just find another distraction like reading emails or spending extra time on Pinterest and second – notice how you feel as a result of the change because that is what will keep you motivated to continue making changes to take your days from ordinary to extraordinary.
Need more help? Go to www.ANewDayANewVision.com and get my third book in the “All I Want is … Everything” series “7 Steps to Defining, Creating and Living the Life of Your Dreams” or simply stay with me as we travel this amazing journey of life and work together through all those things that make us amazing ~ empowered and beautiful!