Resolve to live simply

Do what you can with what you have.

First of all, how have a dozen years passed since the millennium? Wasn’t it just last week we were worrying about Y2K?

The New Year is upon us and it’s time to stop the two-month feeding frenzy and start making healthy choices. It’s time to stop spending money not yet earned and really commit to living within financial means. It’s time to stop smoking, learn something new, and spend more quality time with family and friends. It’s time for New Year’s Resolutions.

It’s been a long time since I’ve created a list of things I resolve to do, at least at the beginning of any given year. Rather, I have one thing I’ve resolved to do over the last couple of years, a mantra of sorts.

When we helped Brittany move into her new apartment a couple of years ago, we watched our pregnant daughter begin to create a home for the wee one she now cradled inside her. We watched her nest. And it warmed our hearts.

The plaque she hung in her bathroom struck me, as if I was reading the two words for the first time.

“Live Simply”

The small size of her new home mattered not. The lack of storage, the noisy neighbors, the stubborn windows. None of it changed her outlook. None of it dampened her spirit. Her eyes sparkled as if she was moving into the Taj Mahal.

She was content.

She was happy. She was making a life for the baby growing inside her. A son, who would mold her life as much as she’d mold his.

She had chosen to live simply. How much I have to learn from her.

She recognizes the importance of every decision she makes. She could have easily (and rightfully) opted otherwise – to torture herself over a broken relationship, be fearful about moving to a new state, whine about the relentless morning sickness, stay in a perpetual state of self-pity.

But she chose to embrace the life that is hers. To live simply and fully.

You cannot escape the story of your life. Stop wasting precious moments trying. Everything leading up to this moment has already happened. Granted, your story is never the one you would have written in the beginning, but your story is yours, wholly and solely yours. Your story has made you who you are.

Friends, there are still many chapters to be written. There is still time.

Time to see the beauty in life despite what surrounds you. Time to be free of our sad stories. Time to breathe life in fully. Time to embrace each new moment for the first time. That’s what I encourage you to do with your new year.

It’s not about what you have or how much of it you have. It’s about doing what you can with what you have.

This year, resolve to live simply. The complications of life don’t need any help; they come without fail. Concentrate on the little things, for they are the heart of your next chapter.