Choosing The Simple Life Saved Me: Here's How

I choose to live what others may think is a boring, simple life because I feel that I am enough, just as I am. The hustle culture made me feel the opposite.

Living a minimalist lifestyle has helped me see that living a minimal, simple life brings me contentment. I left the rat race when I realized I could embrace slow living.

I improved my life by avoiding hustle culture and embracing a simple lifestyle. I live a simple life so I can live a good life.

Life brings simple pleasures every day but it’s up to me to acknowledge them. Our society tells us to be bold and stand out from the crowd.

I felt pressured to fit in with everyone else, putting in 150 percent so I could do more so I could have more and be more. I was always chasing happiness.

This way of thinking made me feel like I wasn’t doing enough, or worse, that I simply wasn’t enough.

Hustle culture frowns upon slowing down and focusing on just being and doing less. It’s easy to get swept up into the majority way of thinking that to be relevant, I must lead an exciting, busy life.

Comparing myself to others on social media made me feel like I needed to upgrade my lifestyle to be validated.

The constant noise from media ads said that to have an extraordinary life, I need the newest car, extravagant vacations, and the latest fashion. This message made me feel inadequate.

Oscar Wilde said, “I adore simple pleasures, they are the last refuge of the complex.”

Living with a brain injury, I have had to learn how to accept living a slower-paced, simple life.

Now, I not only accept my simple life, I cherish it. An entirely new way of living has opened up to me and I am happier than I’ve ever been.

Society’s narrative is that happiness is something that should be pursued and achieved. My feeling is that happiness is a choice. The choice is more apparent when external expectations are removed.

Many times it was in the false hope, in the expectation that something outside of myself would make me happy. This thought just set me up for disappointment time and time again.

Happiness comes from within, not from external things. It doesn’t take much for me to be happy.

I can spend hours in nature, absorbing the quiet stillness of the mountains, enjoying the change of seasons, the vibrant golden leaves against the blue sky, and taking a walk in the mountains and pausing to take in the sounds of the leaves rustling in the breeze.

Sitting on a rock in a stream in the cool water while I listen to the babbling brook is amazing.

In my boring life, I am much more present and connected in the moment. Instead of constantly looking for the next event to bring me happiness, I’m perfectly content in the mundane of life.

I gain so much joy from ordinary day-in and day-out activities. Trying a new recipe at home is just as entertaining to me as going out to a restaurant.

Staying up late watching movies and laughing with my daughter is one of the best things I can do. Or, enjoying the quiet evening while I knit is wonderful.