Letting go is something people talk a lot about but not a lot of people really do. Everyone wants to be happier, more content with their life, more focused on what we really want, but most of us tend to carry on with our same bad habits, our same old routine, our same boring jobs. In the past year I've made attempts at letting go of a lot of ideals and letting go of a lot of activities. If I have 50 things on my dinner plate, how much can I really enjoy each one? What if I had only 5 things on my plate?
I've been learning to say NO to a lot of things. My time is valuable. I need to focus more on what is important to me. What are my priorities? I may say that my priority is writing, but if I spend 2 hours on Twitter or Facebook and only 20 minutes writing in a day, then what does that tell you about my priorities? Limiting my time on social media and the internet in general has been a great exercise in focusing on what I want to do, on leading an intentional life. Instead, I use the internet much more deliberately. I check emails for a limited time. When I find a Youtube video or an article I want to read, I save it for later when I have a better time to focus on it. I delay the desire to watch a video or read an article, and if I still want to take my time later then I will.
All of these things stem from letting go. The holiday season is a hard time for a lot of us but there is a lot of things we can do to lessen our stress and limit our focuses. Leo Babauta wrote a great blog post the other day about simplifying over the holidays. Give it a read here.
He also has a free E-book called The One Skill: How Mastering the Art of Letting Go Will Change Your Life. It is a short and easy read and very helpful. Check it out!
