2014 was a “Busy” one for me, my family and my office.  I kept finding myself overwhelmed with commitments, appointments, projects, and the list kept going of people and needs that were pulling me in different directions.  I was tired and longed for a a way to simplify life.  I stumbled on a Facebook post one day that led me to a page and blog called Becoming Minimalist.   I loved reading about ways to simplify my life through getting rid of clutter,  reducing the number of clothes in my closet and other ways to find more time in the busyness of life.  I liked what I was reading but this process too was a bit overwhelming until I read about a course that the author of the blog contributed to – it was called A Simple Year.   A Simple Year was a course designed to help simplify your life one step at a time.  Each month has a different focus on areas that matter most led by a team of people who specialize in topics like travel, food, money, relationships and work.

I thought that this might be something I should do but marked it on my to-do list.  As the end of 2014 came, I had burned my candle at both ends long enough that my body finally made me slow down.  Being sicker than I have ever been and learning that it would take weeks if not months to get my energy level back was the final push that I needed to do something drastic to create a reset to my life and schedule so that I didn’t relapse or continue down the same path.

Now that I am 6 months into this journey I can say I am so glad I signed up.  Each month comes with so many great tips and tools from other people who have discovered ways to live a fuller life with less “stuff” in it.  I am sure I will continue to share many of the tidbits I am learning through this blog but here is a few of my favorite things I learned from the first 6 months.

• Reducing the clothes in my closet help me put away the clothes I have and not let them stack up.  I am not quite ready to tackle the Project 333 but I have quite a few less clothes that I did before.
• It is a process that takes time but each area I declutter is one more area that I can find peace and a sense of calm.
• Clearing out clutter helps reduce the things you have to clean and organize.
• Oh I loved this month’s focus.  It may have been the area that I needed the most.
• I love that I have removed the word “BUSY” from my daily vocabulary.  My schedule may be full but I am no longer busy all the time.
• When you allow blank spaces in your calendar you allow opportunities to enjoy the things that you love most to have room to come in whether spontaneous or preplanned.
• Clearing our the extra stuff on calendar and my closet make it easier to pick up and go when I want to travel.
• I am still needing to go back and work through all the gems in this month’s section.  I used April to catch up the first 3 months so I didn’t get as much of my Kitchen done.
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• Turning off many of the notifications on my phone and other electronics has been huge.  I love the power of technology but every ding and flash is so distracting.
• I am learning a better balance between how to use technology to help and when to sit it down.
• This month was great timing since I purchased a new computer in May and was setting up my file structure and deciding what to bring over to the new computer.
• Since Work was one area that I have experienced quite a few changes in the last several months, this was a great time to pause and reflect on how I can be more productive and use my time better each day.
• I love the tips on how to manage e-mails better.  I gave the method of Yesterbox a try and have found it to be a huge help.  A month into it I have gone from over 3000 e-mails in my work Inbox to less than 300 plus I have dealt with every single e-mail message from June as of July 2.  Prior to this, I would have days  would hit e-mails well and take care of most of them but there always seems to be a few that lingered or if the day got busy it would add up so quickly and become overwhelming.  I now have a plan to deal with current e-mails in a specific system and as I have extra time each day I have been able to chip away at the backlog.
• I also have my own business to help people with their photos and this month gave me the push to explore setting up a blog and website to create a better platform to share my heart and passion of my business.  I hope you are enjoying this aspect of my journey even though this blog and website is still a work in progress.

I never would have guessed that adding a online course like this would inspire me to tackle so many areas of life and feel better about the order that is coming to life.  I look forward to continuing on this journey and seeing where the next 6 months take me.