I recently discovered that my personality type is most likely to embrace a minimalist lifestyle. Which might explain why reading The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world by John Mark Kromer, resonated with me so much. It is such an awesome book and I really want to quote vast expanses of it. I love quotes and have a Pinterest board full of them. I'm going to add this one, "Our time is our life, and our attention is the doorway to our hearts." He also points out, "what we give our attention to is the person we become, for good or evil…Every single thing that we let into our minds will have an effect on our souls."
I finished the book this morning and want to incorporate it deeply into my life. His message is one of slowing down, enjoying the moment and simplifying. I have had the opportunity during Corona Lockdown to slow right down. I haven't been working since March as the clinic I worked at was closed. I haven't had to be anywhere at a certain time, my kids have been home schooling, Phil has been working from home. All the clubs and after school activities we used to do have stopped and the only thing I had to do on a schedule was walk my neighbour's dog every other day at around 10:00 am. Even that was pretty flexible. I love this pace of life. Slow and unhurried. I love not having to rush out of bed to drive Phil to the train station at 6:15 in the morning. I love not having to rush the girls to school and rush to work and rush back to school to pick them up and then rush to clubs and rush to make dinner before rushing back to the train station to pick Phil up again. I think I like slow but it's taken me months to get used to it and then I'll get another job and September is right around the corner and the rush will come back.
In his book, Kromer talks about it taking time for your soul to catch up when you stop. I think my soul is perhaps only just catching up now, almost four months post-Corona. This job search has made me think--what if less is actually more? Why as humans are we so relentlessly driven to crave more? More money, more work, more outings, more stuff. If I think of a business idea, my mind automatically goes to how can I grow that, how could I make that bigger, better, more. I am bombarded daily by people trying to sell me their ideas, their CV writing systems, their services, themselves so they can be more influential, make more money and get more likes or followers. I find the whole thing totally and utterly exhausting. I don't want to live from that place. No matter what I end up doing, I don't want to live from a place of constantly striving for an elusive more. I definitely don't want to have to sell myself or my services by blasting emails punctuated by red call to action links, buy me now messages, which probably work but make me just want to curl up in a little ball and roll a mile away.
I want to live intentionally, slowly, with less. Less mental clutter, less physical clutter, less hurry. The only mores I want are more joy, more connection and more freedom to be. I realise this probably won't lead me to a million pound career option but I want to enjoy life, the little moments now, not be hurrying so much that I miss the life I'm actually living. So for now, I'm going to slow down and take long walks and see the beauty all around me. (Today's photo is from a walk I took this week to a field just near our house.) I'm also going to continue decluttering my house and see if living with less is actually more. Who knows, maybe the answer for me will be in becoming a minimalist.
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