When life gets too complicated, many of us find ourselves feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. There are so many things that we have to do every day, and it seems like there is never enough time to get them all done. Unfortunately, this abundance of things can lead to a lack of focus on what matters in our lives. Simplifying our lives will allow us to focus more on the things that truly matter, which will bring happiness into our lives.

Live a simpler life

We do our morning routine for many of us and then head out into the world and do all the daily responsibilities involving our work, obligations, and responsibilities. Leisure time, hobbies, and passions also make up our busy schedules. There will come a time that sometimes you think there is too much going on with your life, and you might feel stressed and tired from doing everything. When you feel overwhelmed for some time, it's time to step back and assess your life and see if there are some things you can do to simplify your life. Your simplifying journey doesn't have to be challenging, but it can take some time to declutter everything, especially when many things have piled up throughout your life.

1. Reduce the number of projects you have

Sometimes, the reason we can feel overwhelmed is that there are too many things on our plates. For example, we are taking on several projects simultaneously, ranging from doing a side job aside from your main job to doing something for somebody else. It can also be in the form of having too many time commitments such as daily chores, community activities, hobbies, online activities, etc. Simplifying your life involves looking at everything you are doing in your life and seeing which of them are truly important. Over time, you might have added more and more activities to your life, leading to complications. Too many things can lead you to lose focus on what you wanted to do in the first place. Ask yourself over something whether it is essential to you or not. If it is not, maybe it's time to remove that particular activity from your life.

2. Declutter material things around you.

If you want to simplify your life, the physical clutter around you is one of the first things you can start clearing away. As we grow old and go through life, we accumulate many things in our lives, even more so once we have our job and now have the purchasing power to buy something. As a result, we want many items, and they all eventually pile up and conglomerate in your house. If you don't sort them out, it's going to be a nightmare when you search for something but can't find it due to all the things you have in your house.

Part of simplifying your life is getting rid of excessive possessions taking up space in your house. Maybe you can make a garage sale, sell them online, or give them away to friends, peers, or relatives. Keep only those valuable to you and get rid of those you can live without in your life. It becomes easier to breathe and move around in your house if it's clean and doesn't look like a warehouse or stockroom.

3. Get rid of bad habits and negative thoughts

Mental clutter forms part of the things that can complicate your life. Negative thoughts such as resenting someone, being jealous of your peers, or wanting to exact vengeance on someone you hate can all add more clutter to your life. There are also bad habits like smoking, drinking alcoholic drinks too much, or spending too much time online that can complicate your life. It's hard to break away from things like these, especially if you have been doing them for so long, but it's doable. Don't expect an overnight change. It takes willpower and motivation if you want to discipline yourself truly. Remove old habits from your life if you are not deriving any joy from them. Replace negative thoughts with positive ones, which is easier said than done. If you successfully remove bad habits and the negative thoughts in your mind, you can enjoy having a more simplified life and focus only on the things on your priority list.

4. Manage your finances

Not knowing where your money goes and how you should spend them can mess with your life. Decluttering your financial life is as important as getting rid of physical and mental clutter. Sorting out your finances means knowing how much you should spend per payday and where you should spend a certain percentage of your money. Allocate portions of your money to different areas such as savings, expenses, and leisure. If you have debts, set a rate that will go towards paying them gradually. The idea is to make your financial situation secure and stable so that when unexpected things happen, you will have something to pull to cover yourself. You can do many things to effectively budget your money and still have the cash to buy things you want.

5. Create a to-do list

It's easier to know what you should be doing each day, month, or year if you have a list that details what you should be doing. You can break down your goals in life into smaller parts, and these are the to-do lists that you should make for each day, week, and month that passes. Anything that's not on your list can be considered excessive, and it's up to you whether you will accept other things to do. If simplifying your life is what you want to do, focus only on what's on your list. Accept other items only if they fit in your schedule, and they won't hold you back from doing what's important to you.

6. Remove toxic people from your life

Cutting off people from your life might sound like a cruel thing, but sometimes you have to do it if they only drain your energy and give you headaches and stress. Toxic people are part of what can make your life more complicated. These are the people who often rant to you, bring gossips, tell negative news and information, or hate your existence and will do anything to bring you down and make you feel miserable. Toxic people can be in your family, circle of friends, or peers. It becomes more challenging to eject them if they are close to you for a long time, but you have to move forward if you want to get anywhere. Toxic people add excess baggage to your life. Don't engage too much with them, and set a limit to how long you will interact with them and how far they can intrude in your life.

Life doesn't have to be complicated.

No rule states life has to be complicated to make it worthy. Many of us do multi-tasking and end up doing many things but don't know which of them genuinely matters to us. Focus more time instead on a single activity and move to the next once you finish a single task. It's even better if you focus on the important things instead of doing lots of stuff.

Learning to slow down can make our life easier by not rushing too much about what's going on with our lives. Slowing down can help us get a perspective of what we are doing, why we are doing something, and where do want to go with our life. This activity also helps in identifying what things we can consider as excessive in our lives.

There are many ways to simplify your life. Taking control of your life becomes easier if there are fewer things to manage. Don't waste time doing things that don't bring fulfillment or joy to you. If you want to simplify life, know what you want and what's important to you. These things can make a huge difference in lessening complications in life and allow you to enjoy life better.