Simple is powerful

As I get ready to walk the Camino de Santiago again, I’m walking down the memory lane of my first solo one. 

One of the biggest challenges I faced while getting ready for that trip was deciding what to bring. Since I had to carry everything in my backpack, I was very mindful of how much I included. Right before I left, I ruthlessly cut even more items because they didn’t seem worth their weight. 

In my pack were two hiking outfits. Just two outfits that made up the majority of my wardrobe for two months. 

At first this seemed a little weird. And really boring. Especially once I realized there was one pair of pants I preferred and started wearing those every day. 

Soon I started to appreciate having fewer choices. It made things so much simpler and easier. It saved so much time. It saved so much thinking. Which freed me up to pay even more attention to the journey I was on. Having less was absolutely liberating. 

This was completely validated when my husband came to visit me, bringing some nice clothes I wanted to wear when we were together. The addition of just two outfits threw me off completely - I went from feeling calm & collected because my clothing choices were simple to stressing about having additional options that added weight to my pack. I couldn’t wait to send them home.

I’m reminded of all this now as I wade through my task management system and wonder if all my “priorities” are still important. Short answer: nope. It’s time to jettison the things that seemed like a good idea but are really just cluttering my path. 

When you make things simpler for yourself, you’re free from the weight of the unnecessary and less important. You have headspace and bandwidth to focus on what’s truly important and what you truly love to do. And you’re able to do those things even better than before.

“Simplify” is a beautifully simple mantra. How is it showing up in your life? And if it’s not, how can it?