And every year I wonder, “How am I going to make it?”
Make it through the gift-buying-house-decorating-party-hopping-cookie-baking-calendar-filling-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year.
Y’all know what I’m talking about.
The list above isn’t the root of my Christmas woes. The problem is that by the time December arrives I’m already worn thin from a chaotic life the other eleven months.
And I found myself recently wondering…
Why am I doing all of this anyway?
What if life could be simpler—not just during this season but all year round?
In the midst of those questions, a book arrives. I set it on the kitchen table—right in the middle of stacks of paper, lists, and to-do’s that have been left undone. I realize the irony every time I see the title: Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider.
I pick up the book and begin reading. Tsh tells of how modern life has gotten complicated and makes a case for living differently. It seems she’s right there at my kitchen table talking to me at the start of chapter three…
I hate to break it to you, but you can’t do it all. I can’t either. We’re all given a finite amount of time, resources, and talents, which makes it rather impossible to achieve that noble, yet impossible ambition of doing everything well that you want to do….No one in the history of the world has been able to accomplish it all.
Those are comforting words, especially coming from Tsh—the creator of the highly popular site SimpleMom, brilliant businesswoman, as well as wife and mama making a difference in the world.
Tsh goes on to say it’s important to create a Family Purpose Statement that guides what you do. So I take the book with me to my weekly breakfast date with my husband the following Saturday and together we answer the questions she offers to help you create your statement. For example, “What are the top four priorities we want our family to value?”
It makes for a lively discussion over bagels and coffee. And when I come home to the same stacks and to-do lists I had before, I’m more motivated to do something about them. Oh, I’ve read articles on organizing or ways to make life simpler before—but detached from the “why” they just weren’t compelling enough to make me take action.
True simplicity, Tsh says, is “living holistically with your life’s purpose.” So after the “why” Tsh moves on to the “how” and even ends with a ten-day plan for organizing your home.
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.—Epictetus.
By the time I close the final page, I feel calmer and I actually have a practical plan for making some changes. Oh, I may still hyperventilate in the Christmas aisle at Target. And my schedule still might be a bit more crowded that I want. But when I think back to the gifts I got this Christmas there will be one I’m thanking Tsh for—a simpler life.
It’s not the kind of gift you open once but rather a choice you make each day.
And after reading this book, I think I’ll make it.
Got a little chaos in your life this Christmas or all through the year? Or know anyone who does? Then find out more about Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living.
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