Simplicity

New Year, New… Just kidding. 😆

For the first time in a long time, the New Year didn’t actually feel that new. It didn’t feel like much of a reset, but more of a continuum. Things are just following their course and nothing new seems to unfold. At least that’s how it feels in my tiny bubble.

Most of what I started in 2021 is just continuing this year and I’m ok with that. We don’t need to start new things every single year, right?

Exactly a year ago today, I launched this website, as a space to express myself and share some bits and pieces of the wonder and expansion that bring so much meaning to my life. My mantra for 2021 was:

I play out my full expression.

I ended up expressing myself more in the non-virtual spaces, especially in the second half of 2021, but oh, what a journey last year has been!

I read and wrote a lot, moved halfway across the world once again and worked a gazillion hours. I travelled a little and hiked a ton. I connected and reconnected deeply to people dear to my heart. I had heartfelt conversations and moments of pure joy and gratitude with wonderful humans. I also cried, felt terribly frustrated, exhausted, defeated and defensive. I felt alone, misunderstood and disconnected.

Because I made some pretty big life changes, I knew it was going to be challenging, yet I still didn’t expect 2021 to be so hard to carry.

It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day, in the urgency and busyness. It’s easy to fall into old patterns when you don’t meet your most essential needs. It’s easy to become someone you thought you’d already evolved from.

It’s so easy to lose touch with compassion and forgiveness when we live in a world so divided, fearful and clinging to a grain of safety.

It’s so easy to forget who you really are and what you came here to do, what your intention for this lifetime is.

What’s really hard is to carry the awareness of all of these things every day. It’s difficult to stay on track and remember what’s important. It’s tough to stay aligned and live life according to your values in such uncertainty and instability.

At least it was for me, in 2021. I witnessed my every expression, at my best, my worst and in between. And I hope to learn from this awareness and live life at least a little better this year.

My belief is that it can be a bit easier when you keep it simple.

Lately, I’ve been feeling more and more grateful for space. Space to be whatever feels good to me in the moment. Rather than have it all filled up in advance with tasks or appointments, I crave the empty space and the subtle growth it brings into my life.

I love how it allows me to hear and stay closer to myself. How it raises the volume of the whispers of my heart and soul. How it brings up all the unresolved fears and doubts that are so easily covered up and overlooked during those full, intense days. And most of all, I love how it primes me for presence and stillness.

I’m getting closer to my introvert nature. I’m finally embracing it with open arms and curiosity, rather than avoiding it for fear of missing out, for fear of not being enough. I’m so tired of trying to prove myself. It feels necessary to take more time and space to just be these days.

I’ve been hearing the call to simplify my life for years. It showed up in conversations with friends, courses, books. It’s never been as strong as this year, though. And I’m here for it.

A few weeks ago, I had to quarantine and I was alone in the house for 4 days. It felt so good, so right to have that space and time to fill it up with whatever I wanted, or leave it empty without feeling bad about it – as I had nowhere to be and nothing to do. I was supposed to just be at home. That’s when it came to me. That’s when I knew that this was my theme for this year.

I want my 2022 to be stripped of complications and exhausting decision-making. I crave less overwhelm, less shopping, less things, less social media, less of the stuff that triggers anxiety and restlessness. I’d like more peace, more silence, more stillness, more nature immersions, more nourishing meals. I want to do less and be more. I want more simplicity, overall.

I want to say yes to what feels in alignment and happily say no to what feels draining and overwhelming.

This is my intention for this year – to

rejoice in the simplicity.

To focus on what’s most important to me and allow room for simply being. It’s what feels most aligned with where I’m at in my life at the moment.

In a way, I already started doing this last year. Not coincidentally, the name of the last article I posted here is ‘Do Nothing’. I’d been craving for space ever since. And I had to choose to stop doing certain things to meet my most essential needs. To mostly do the things that helped me stay sane through the discomfort.

So, I’m just transitioning on the continuum in 2022.

How about you? What’s the vibe that 2022 gives off for you? What’s the calling you need to answer this year?

Let me know in the comments!