A Busy Life and Living with Intention

Every winter it seems I find myself tangled up in a busy schedule that leaves little time for me to relax, at least not if I want to get enough sleep to keep powering through the days ahead.

This winter has been no different, with my first Winter Camp spanning from January 7th to 25th. The days are long, but the work is incredibly fulfilling. Even though I feel happy each night when I finally make it home, I’m fairly exhausted by the end of the week.

But even with my busy schedule, I’ve still managed to make intentional living a priority. Each night after work, my coworker Sam and I go to the gym for at least half an hour. I’ve been using my lunch break to catch up on my reading, and when I wake up in the morning, I make it a priority to read at least one news article. When I walk to work in the morning, I listen to The Daily and I don’t go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink.

Some days, doing these things feels like work. More than work feels like work, actually. But I know if I don’t do it, everything around me will begin to pile up and I’ll be easily consumed by the chaos. What these last few weeks have taught me is that allowing my space to become a mess triggers my stress more than stressful situations actually do. If my house is literally in order, I find it much easier to cope with the daily challenges I am presented with. It feels great to come home at 8:15 p.m. to a sink free of dirty dishes and a bed that’s made.

Sure, when life gets busy I might seem easier to forget our intentions and let life has its way with us. But taking the time to take care of yourself, even in the smallest of ways, can make a huge difference.

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Leave the Clutter in 2018: Things to Get Rid of Before 2019 Begins

As one year turns to another, we are always seeking new ways to improve our lives in the new year. As I continue my Minimalism Challenge throughout December, I’ve been considering the things that everyone should consider cleaning out before the clock strikes midnight on January 1st, indicating the start of a new year. 

Here are some of the things that I personally believe would help you to start 2019 heading in a positive direction.

Unsubscribe from e-mail lists

Every morning I wake up and I have loads of unread e-mails, the majority of which are announcing sales and coupons for stores I no longer shop at now that I am living in Korea. Even before moving, I never looked at these e-mails. Rarely was the subject line catchy enough to make me open the e-mail. In the majority of cases, I signed up for the e-mail list in order to get some sort of discount when shopping online.

If your inbox looks like mine, consider taking the time to unsubscribe from these e-mail lists. You can do this manually, or you can download an app like Unroll Me, which does all the hard work for you. While you might spend anywhere from 5-15 minutes unsubscribing from e-mails, that’s nothing compared to the time you’ll save over the course of a year when you aren’t taking the time to delete unopened e-mails every day.

Clean out your junk drawer for good

Every home has one. I grew up with a junk drawer. My grandparents had junk drawers. I had a junk drawer in my apartment in Pennsylvania. But when I moved to Korea with next to nothing, I didn’t make a junk drawer, because I had no junk. Before today, I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I have no junk drawer. But after going three months without one, I have come to one very simple realization: you don’t need a junk drawer.

Seriously.

Clean it out. Put things where they belong. Throw away those old manuals for things you know how to use, get rid of those dead batteries, and stop hoarding garbage you don’t need. Say goodbye to your junk drawer and don’t look back.

Discard old papers

Nothing builds up in our living spaces like old papers. Receipts, bills, manuals, holiday and birthday cards, old photographs. They’re everywhere. It seems every time I turn around there is another receipt laying on my table or sticking out from under my bed. Where do they all come from? When will this cycle of finding and throwing away receipts end?! 

Before the new year ends, go through all those old papers laying around your home. Get rid of them. And make it a habit to ask for no receipt. If you’re given one, put it in the recycling immediately. Stop letting them pile up and slowly take over your living spaces. 

Bad habits

Bad habits may be the trickiest thing to give up as the new year begins. We often like to think about how great and wonderful we will be in the new year, because it’s not now. It’s later. We can always be better later. We can ditch our bad habits later, but for now, we can revel in them. Ditch that way of thinking and start breaking down those bad habits now. Changing habits takes time, and creating an arbitrary start date for an arbitrary reason is not going to help you change. Instead, start now. And if you slip, keep going. Try every single day to break down those bad habits. Because if you keep trying, even after failing time and time again, one day they won’t be habits anymore. 

It’s never too late to live the life you want to live or be the person you want to be. Don’t wait until you have more time or more money or a “reason” to start. Start today, and keep restarting every single day until you are living a life you love. And then, keep going.