A New Year’s Revolution: In Search of a Simple Life

Over the last few days, as the year has been preparing to depart, I have encountered a New Year’s Revolution.

It seems we are becoming a little less enamoured of ushering in the new year with hopeful resolutions.

It is undeniable, however, that change is a current buzz word with commitment as its side-kick.

We all know that we can be richer, thinner, smarter and far more focused on getting the best life possible - we’re just not sure that we actually want to commit to making these changes today.

After all, change is complicated.

And against the many measuring sticks that surround us, it is pretty obvious that it is the whole kit and caboodle - and not just our hips - that need an overhaul.

And so, despite the ever-present reminders in the media, urging us to wrap our new year in a commitment to spend, most people seem a little jaded by all the commotion.

Instead of a call to arms to change our lives beyond recognition, the revolution is a quiet one: many of us, it seems, just want a simple life.

Life Made Simple

As Confucius so aptly put it, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

The reality is that we can choose to make our lives less complicated.

Life can - and will - hurl complications at us, but we don’t have to react to these events in a complicated manner.

Fleeting relationships, temporary jobs, dips in the economy, absent friends…

Do these things really need to be entangled in complications?

If we simplified our reactions to events that affect us, would we have a greater chance of happiness and contentment?

Spoilt for Choice

Is the gloss of bettering ourselves wearing off?

Is the love affair with curbing our excesses and celebrating our successes drawing to a close?

It’s unlikely.

But it does seem that we are becoming weary of the complications associated with self improvement.

And maybe that is an unavoidable side-effect of being spoilt for choice. In our freedom-infused society, we are awash with choice and many of us baulk at making decisions that once were almost automatic.

What may have once been a simple choice - a sensible nutrition plan involving the five food groups or the best way to get yourself a promotion at work - is now a maze of opportunities and expectations.

One wrong turn and you’ll end up with a taut pay-packet and a bulging backside.

Four Little Steps to Simplicity

And yet the process to simplifying your life is appropriately simple.

1. Work out where the complexity lies - Too many commitments? Too much stress? Not enough down-time? Not enough motivation?
2. Decide what you can do without - Some complications are part of life, but others just hitch a ride. If a complexity exists because you’ve allowed it to form rather than because it needs to be part of your life, toss it out.
3. Take action to embed the simple alternative - Voids don’t work very well in reality, so if a simple alternative exists - the nice man for the bad boy or the morning walk in the park over the twelve-month, platinum gym membership - then make it a part of your life today.
4. Develop strategies to avoid future complications - Get into the habit of identifying complexities before they develop. We all have weaknesses for different complications - involving ourselves in others’ affairs or taking on the work project that has “challenging” stamped all over it - and we need to train ourselves to avoid them.

And so, as the sun goes down on the first day of the new year, my hopeful resolution is not about kicking a habit or climbing a ladder, but about working hard to create a simple life.

I wish you the very best of good luck with your own 2008 revolution.

Tags: Change, resolutions, simplicity
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