Simply Say Yes!

"Just say no!" I hear this a lot. People look at what's on my plate and tell me to stop saying yes to things, take time for myself, slow down. Well guess what, sometimes you just can't say no. Life is a roller coaster and right now I'm chugging my way up the steep climb to the top before the fun of the effortless, speedy decline, wind in my hair, laughing out of pure joy occurs. I used to stress about the stress of my schedule and that just made me literally almost lose my mind. Literally. And while I still have some moments of insanity, I'm getting better at not stressing over the "yes's" I continually have to say. As soon as I accepted that right now I'm in a busy season of life, everything became easier. I let up on myself and I stopped worrying about offending people with my busy schedule. I simply accepted that right now I must say "yes, I can meet from 8-10pm after class to work on our group project (even though I've been at work since 8am)" or "yes, I need some girl-time. Happy hour? (no matter what homework is waiting for me at home)" or "yes, I can attend that meeting (even though I have about 100 emails waiting for me in my inbox)" or "yes, I will be skipping out on socials and groups to complete my class assignments for the week (even though I'd rather be hanging out and I also know I'm a bit MIA right now)". So onward to another few months of yes's and the knowledge that there will be time for no's...sometime in the semi-near future.

But don't worry, I do stop to rest every so often. In fact, tonight I think I'll take advantage of that fact that today is Leap Day, which means I technically have an extra days to get things done. Normally I wouldn't have today, so I'm going to pretend it's a "freebie" day and tonight after class and a group meeting, I'm not going to open my computer, I'm not going to open my books, and I am going to open some wine and a movie. Thank you, Leap Year, for allowing me to make up an excuse to have a simply restful evening!

Simply Swing

A simple year, huh? This whole living simply thing is a bit harder than I thought it was going to be. While I've been able to remove the clutter, the stuff, and the things behind, the busyness of life has completely taken over my life. I haven't done a very good job of finding time to rest and it seems as though life has just been too busy to be simple. I took a trip to Mexico last week, but that story is for another day. It was one of the most amazing trips of my life and exactly what I needed to restart my perspective on life. With that fresh breath of air, I've been able to take things day-by-day instead of feeling like I'm swimming for the surface to reach air and unable to ever reach the top. However dramatic this sounds, those four days changed how I view what's important in life. This past weekend I was able to complete school, work, and life's tasks without letting the nitty-gritty get to me. It was freeing. And today I did something completely unexpected that was incredibly peaceful...I swung on a swing. Yep, I know it sounds silly, but I took a little jog down to the local park on my lunch break and after my normal outdoor workout routine I was about to head home when the swings caught my eye. It's not like I haven't swung on a set of swings in a while...I've had my fair share of swinging during hang out sessions with the little tykes in my life, but this time it was just me and the swings. No one else was around. I wanted to swing.

So I hopped on those swings, took out my headphones, closed my eyes, and started to swing. Instantly, joy and peace rushed over me. It was as if I was just a kid again without a care in the world. I probably looked so silly swinging all giddy and cheerful alone out there, but it didn't matter one bit to me. I was a happy, blissful girl. Needless to say I had a little extra hop in my step during my jog back home.

This was a great reminder to myself. While that trip to Mexico was unbelievable, a simple thing like being a kid for 5 minutes on that swing did goodness for my soul. Keep it simple. Keep swinging.

A Simple Lesson: Stay Present

It's been awhile since I've put words on a page that weren't required by work or school.  Honestly, I'm a bit overwhelmed with everything on my plate - school, a mentoring program, Live a Life of Love, working full-time, Lauren Alisse Photography, and maintaining friendships. While I love it all, truly I do, I find myself swirling around in a sea "stuff", attempting to swim to the top, but never actually reaching the surface to catch a breath.  But you know what I have had time to do!? Think about the future. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. It's been awful. I find myself playing out scenarios and conversations that I'm absolutely convinced will happen, but probably never will. It's unhealthy for so many reasons.

For one, if you (I use "you" in the "all of society, including myself" sense of the word) waste time thinking about what will happen, you will most certainly miss what's happening now - the smells, the sounds, the feelings of life just as it is. Even if you're in a difficult place, like I feel I am now, there's something to be said for enjoying life for what it is, as it is right now. Never again will I know the feeling of information overload about non-profit management, strategic planning, and how to increase the revenue of my small business thanks to my MBA program.  Nor will coffee taste the same as it does now, because I appreciate it so much how it brightens my tired mornings. Time with friends will never mean what it does during this busy time, because there's a very specific purpose for each one of them right now. These are just a few of the small things I need to remember to appreciate each day. Every time I get caught up in the "what-ifs", I miss out on the little moments life is currently providing me.

Another reason why it's so unhealthy to worry about the future is because you can't control the future, so there's really no use stressing about it. Easier said than done, I know.  But really, you can mentally prepare yourself for all sorts of different scenarios, but you won't ever know what's actually going to happen until it does. Unless you possess some super power that allows you to control people with your minds, endless amounts of worry about the future are pretty much a complete waste of energy. Instead of worrying, I'm trying to trust myself that four months from now or even five years from now when I'm faced with decisions, uncomfortable situations, and just plain life, I will be fully equipped to handle it, because I've spent the here-and-now growing, learning, and experiencing life. Each moment builds on the previous one and if you spend too much time worried about what will happen and not present - not open to learning from what's happening now, you'll never be able to handle the future you're so desperately worried about.

Be present. That's what I keep telling myself. Each time my mind starts to drift, I pull myself out of the future and focus on what I'm doing right now. Right now, I'm writing a blog. I can sense the way the keyboard feels when each finger hits the keys. I can hear the sound of the click-click-click with every punch of a letter. I'm taking in the sound of my most favorite music and the smell of my most favorite candle. And this time right now is therapy. Writing is therapy. So right now I'm ok. I'm present and I'm ok.

Finding a moment to breathe and be present.

For Home: A Simply Organized Kitchen

If anyone's seen my kitchen, you know how absolutely tiny and inconvenient it is. The cupboards are up about 10 feet high (ok, maybe that's a slight exaggeration), there's hardly any counter space, and we only have 3 drawers for cooking utensils and random kitchen utilities. In order to create more space, I purchased a large wire rack from the Container Store to hold all of our appliances. I attempted to make it cute by tying curtains the to top - both to help match with the decor and to hid the mess. Let me tell you...it's SO not a cute storage rack. On top of that, we had no organization system and everything kept getting tossed and piled onto the cheap shelving units. Since this is a year of simplicity, I didn't want to take on a huge kitchen remodel (and my apartment is a rental, so you can't really do much anyway) nor did I want to spend hundreds of dollars on some fancy organization system. So instead, I purchased some plastic containers, cut up some paper, and labeled my way into organization. Gone went the Tupperware with no matching lids, gone went the appliances I've never used and will never use (but maybe someone else will), and gone went the hundreds of water bottles I've collected from events over the years. This project took my all of a couple hours to do and just that little bit of time has made me so much happier. This last weekend I had a picnic with a friend and instead of rummaging through the backs of every cupboard to find paper plates and two plastic forks, I went straight for my "paper goods" labeled box and pulled out what I needed. Oh how a little thing like that can really make your life more simple!

Before: Such a Disaster 

 Plastic Containers for Storage and Organization

 After: So Much Better!

 

 All hidden when closed!

 I cut slits into the top of the curtain and tied it to the top of the wire rack.

I added one more level of organization to my kitchen. By adding a colored piece of paper to a frame instead of a photo, the glass acts as a great dry erase board. Now whenever I'm cooking and realize I'm out of something, I just write it on the board. Then when I'm headed to the grocery store, I snap a photo of the frame on my iPhone and then I have my shopping list right with me.