A Low Maintenance Life | The Art of Simple Living

Depending on the day, I alternate between wanting to go out and conquer the world or move out to the woods and live like a hermit. And I know I'm not the only one. During 2020, people had an opportunity to slow down and consider what they wanted out of their lives, and around the same time we saw a large trend in homesteading. Of course now, five years later, people realize that homesteading is a lot of work, so many of them are moving back to the city. And this got me thinking, what would it be like to take the feeling that we're pursuing by moving out to the woods, out to a homestead, and applying that right where we're at right now, whether we live out in the country or in the middle of a busy city. So that's what I want to talk about in today's video. There is no right way to live, but many people today are looking for something else, some other option for living a life that is different from the life they're living today. I've had this phrase bouncing around in my head for a while, a low-maintenance life. The more I think about it, the more I realize that's just simple living, but I think the result of simple living is a life that is low-maintenance. I think the American culture I grew up in would actually consider this lifestyle to be pretty lazy and unmotivated, but it's actually incredibly intentional and can be adapted and adjusted based on your needs, individual wants, or desires. To me, this is so much more appealing than the average American life, so let's take some time and talk about what it might look like to live a low-maintenance, simple life. Simplifying your daily life. One of the biggest elements to this is living a minimalist lifestyle in regards to your possessions. The less things you have, the less time you need to spend maintaining them, organizing them, cleaning them, and replacing them when they break. Another big element to your daily life is your daily routines and rhythms as you go throughout your day, so creating some simple habits and routines that give you consistency and help you avoid decision fatigue throughout the day could be huge. Another big aspect of this could be having less things on your calendar, and I say this as someone who has an incredible amount of things on my calendar, but simplifying that process could bring down your stress significantly and change your pace of life to something that feels much more sustainable and enjoyable. Managing relationships. Someone who chooses to live a lifestyle like this might consider having fewer, higher quality friends rather than dealing with some of the drama or even toxicity of some larger friend groups or just individuals within some of those groups. Basically, you're only making time for the people who actually add a ton of value to your life. Emotional balance. A low maintenance life could look like not engaging with unnecessary emotional turmoil and not getting bogged down by other people's problems. Another element to this could be self-compassion, so not being overly hard on yourself and not expecting yourself to constantly improve or meet other people's expectations of you. Finances. I've avoided talking about finances on this channel so far for just this reason, but I think this fits into living a simple life. Just know this is not financial advice, this is just my personal thoughts and experiences. I think the biggest element of this is living within your means, not pursuing a life that is outside of your financial situation, and instead using your finances to build a good foundation for the rest of your life. Another element of this that I feel is very important for quality of life is not paying for unnecessary things that don't actually improve your experience of life. So instead of spending a little bit on everything, just choosing to spend discretionarily on things or experiences that you truly or deeply enjoy can bring a ton more value to your daily life. Meaningful activities. A simple life might look like investing your time, your energy, and your money into activities that you actually deeply enjoy. Activities that are meaningful to you, not activities that are just what everyone else is doing or what might be trendy right now. Keep in mind, if you're financially responsible and you're more responsible with your schedule and allowing more time in your schedule, you should have more flexibility to be able to actually pursue the things that you want to pursue. Health. Health is one of those things we take for granted until we don't have it. I know even if I just have a head cold, as soon as I can breathe out of my nose again, I'm just so thankful for my health. The thing with a lifestyle like this that allows more space is it gives you more time to prioritize your health rather than it being an afterthought or a thing you have to do. A lifestyle like this gives you more time to prioritize self-care. Things like prioritizing rest, relaxation, and reflection. It also gives you more time to exercise in a way that is enjoyable to you and not exercise to meet some arbitrary physical standard. Another aspect of this is diet. For most of us, unless you have particular dietary restrictions, eating a balanced diet that is mostly whole foods and then like 20% whatever you want is probably a sweet spot. The idea here is being able to eat a whole balanced diet without obsession over exact macronutrients. Mindset and perspective. This is where it all comes together. This is the why of why we want to go out in the woods rather than living the lives that we're living. And thinking about this could give us the opportunity to do things that are much more fulfilling to us without chasing things that people have told us we should do even if we're not sure we want to do them. In a more detailed sense, this could look like setting clear boundaries, so obviously knowing what your no's are and what your yes's are based on your personal values and beliefs. The next aspect here would be some sort of living in the moment, being less concerned with the past and with the future, and being okay with being here right now and actually enjoying right now. Technology and social media. I think a huge aspect to this is spending less time on social media, less time connected to technology, and more time disconnected with people who are important to you, just enjoying your life outside of the digital world we've created around ourselves. I think this is one of the biggest aspects and one of the places where I've seen the biggest shift in my life the more and more I remove myself from this digital world. Sometimes drastic measures are necessary, but most times small deliberate actions will do. And so you don't have to take everything from this, you don't even need to take anything from this, but maybe consider one area that you can change to live more in alignment with your values and beliefs. If you don't know what your values and beliefs are, I've got a video right up here for you to check out. It's about finding your values and beliefs. This is what's ultimately important to you and what should drive the direction of your life. I want to leave you with a quote. It felt appropriate to share something from Walden. I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach and not when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. Henry David Thoreau.