90-Day Summer Simplifying Challenge ~ Day 90 { simplicity }

Simplicity – Earlier this year my life told me it was time to let go.

After years of being in chaos and clutter, it was time to re-evaluate my lifestyle and move into simplicity. It was time to clear away the stuff that weighed me down. Read my 90-Day Summer Simplifying Manifesto!! As the 90-Day Summer Simplifying Challenge comes to a close today, I am changed and the letting go movement toward simplicity  will continue.

A Recovering Magpie’s Simplicity

My simplicity is mostly not like everyone else’s. I know myself well enough to understand that my version of simplicity will not be your version. I will never be a minimalist, as I am an artist. An artist must be surrounded by her things that make creativity flow. However, I do know I will never stop letting go. The Summer Simplifying Challenge has delivered upon it promise of “eliminating the chaos that has been my life” for…well, forever.

The pain of letting go ended! It took a while and it was not always pretty, but no longer have the compulsion to hold on so tightly to stuff. I can more easily let go of the stuff that no longer serves me or my lifestyle. Plus, I no longer have the need to rescue/buy/collect more stuff. I don’t break as much for yard sales, thrift stores and junk piles. I am learning to live with what I have and be happy.

I am in the midst of creating a lifestyle that embraces simplicity – peaceful, easy living without unnecessary clutter. Of the following decrees of my 90-Day Summer Simplifying Manifesto, I have slowly checked the boxes. Here are the results

I seek:

1. A lifestyle that embraces simplicity, peaceful, easy living. {Fully embraced!} WIN!
2. To own only the things that enhance #1 above. {Fully embraced!} WIN!
3. To be free of the need to hold tightly to ‘things.’ {Fully embraced!} WIN!
4. Balance. {Walking confidently toward!} WIN!

I pledge to rid my life of:

1. Stuff that has been boxed for 6 years or longer. {Done!} WIN!
2. My Mother’s clothing and things.{Almost Done!} WIN!
3. The need to be the family history keeper. {The need is done, disbursement continnues!} WIN!

To do this, I pledge to:

1. Open 1 box each day and situate it completely. {Done!} WIN!
2. Discard I bag each day for 90 days. {Done!} WIN!
3. Give things to family and donate the rest. {Almost Done!} WIN!

Letting go felt scary, because it meant cutting away and discarding what I felt were pieces of my life. During the days of this challenge, I learned that they were not pieces of my life. They were just parts of my life that had way outlasted their season with me. They were just things that overpowered the rest of life to the point of making life feel way out of balance. The pieces that I desperately tried to keep, but in reality had already served their entire purpose. Clinging tightly to them was smothering me, preventing simplicity, and changing the path I should be walking on. I prayed my way through the season of letting go…of baby steps toward freedom and peace.

I desperately hoped that this season would lead me directly into peace and easy living, where there would be plenty of space and clarity, simplicity. However, it seems that this challenge has only prepared me for more clearing and cleaning…inwardly as well as outwardly. As I prepare myself for the season of reflection, I am giving myself permission to slow down and evaluate all that has happened over the 90 days of the Summer Simplifying Challenge.

After working for so long at this, all the growth seems to be pulling me  into a period of dormancy. I do not intend to stop writing and producing creative material. Actually, I am thrilled with this new morning routine I have developed through the summer. It fits perfectly into my life of less and works for HIMself also. He is a little slower at starting the day that I. 🙂 I am still struggling to see the fruits of my labor. Yes, the garage is nearing order and the boxes have been unpacked, dealt with and dispersed…mostly.

{Coming clean} Yet, some of that dispersion involved making room for things within the house. 

My Summer Simplifying Challenge

It is only now, after three months of the challenge, that signs of my new life are appearing. They are holding their own surprises. I find myself actively discerning what this time post Summer Simplifying Challenge means for me. I am looking at the interior of my home as I look inward at myself. I am asking,

• What parts of my life need attention, simplicity?
• Where do I see new avenues of possibility beckoning to me?
• What areas of my life that were pruned away no longer require my time, energy, or attention?

Today I am re-affirming my commitment to these areas and to adding simplicity in my life. I found it necessary to let go of old ways and old habits, allowing me to give energy to the things that God is inviting me to now. The season of reflection is necessary to rest and re-focus my next growing season. I see signs of my new life all around me and I am full of hope. As I discern my next adventure, I take the time to celebrate all this Summer Simplifying Challenge has brought into my life…or taken out of my life, I should say.

Am I finished with the simplifying process? I would say, “No!” I believe that I am in the midst. I know there is much more to do, and I am prepared to do it. I plan to continue the letting go every day. I will be making a conscious effort to find something that is no longer necessary to me and free it to go to a new home. My 90-Day Summer Simplifying Challenge has established within me this spirit of  living with less. I plan to continue to lighten my load until I come to a place of peaceful, easy light living. I may create a Living Light Manifesto next.

 Today’s Accomplishments

1. One box, sorted and things placed into the ‘outta here’ boxes!
2. The house is clean and orderly.

Today’s Setbacks

1. None.

Thank you for sticking around during this summer of letting go. It was some crazy ride! If you are inspired to lighten your load…grab the button below: