Simplicity Relished

minimalism for the adventurous heart

Is There Still Space for Your Dreams?

When it comes to work and career, it can be a bit overwhelming to look at all of your options. You probably have many choices more choices than you think: stay at your current job, start a side-hustle, get a new job, wait for a promotion, quit and do something totally different, do multiple jobs, go back to school, join the circus. Ok, maybe not the last one.

But what happens when someone asks, “What is your dream? Are you pursuing it?”

Is there still space for your dreams?

I’ve always found follow your dreams to be a particularly annoying platitude. Follow my dreams? What does that even mean?

More importantly, it is intimidating to look at others who appear to have followed their dreams, and done so successfully. There are so many entrepreneurs whose lives have dramatically changed because they built their business in the right place at the right time (with the right people). There are even more individuals on traditional career paths who seem to have won the prize– the only prize.

In other words, the potential competition is discouraging, to say the least. It can be scary to look upon someone else’s successes; we’re tempted to think, why should I even try? She’s already got this.…Continue Reading

What will change this world?

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A quick thought for today, because I’m drowning in Japan photos and traveling till the weekend. (Join me for snapshots on Instagram, though!)

The news has grieved me this week. Reading about Charleston while thousands of miles away was a bit surreal. Throughout the articles and comments, the looming question seemed to be, when will things ever change? 

The shackles of racism have held this nation in bondage for long enough. We’ve decided that we’ve seen enough. We’ve decided that it’s time for an overhaul. We’re forcing our political leaders to tread boldly and our future leaders to take a stand.

What will change the world?

The other day, someone made a remark that I found particularly poignant. He said, “Last generation’s question was, what is truth? This generation wants to know, what is good?“

What is good? we ask….Continue Reading

Why Perfectionism Might Be Stealing Your Joy

My definition of perfectionism has gotten a whole lot bigger.

I used to think that perfectionism meant looking good all the time, performing well at everything, and creating an impenetrable facade of, well, perfection.

As it turns out, perfectionism is a lot more about the self than anything else. It’s about perception, will, and inflexibility. It’s driven by all kinds of forces that are generally harmful when taken too far.

Coming to terms with my perfectionism was no easy task. After all, once admitting to perfectionism, one is no longer perfect. Ironic, isn’t it?

But, was I willing to confess my need to be perfect– really, to have my way– in order to experience more freedom? Can perfectionism be traded in for more joy?

As I continue journeying through marriage, through this confusing twenty-something season, and through life in my less-than-favorite city, I am realizing that perfectionism is best lost as soon as possible. And I’ve come to that conclusion through a series of revelations.

5 reasons why perfectionism might be stealing your joy …Continue Reading

Lessons I Learned While Working in Addiction Recovery

After I graduated high school, I did not go straight to college. Instead, I packed my bags in San Francisco and boarded a flight to New Hampshire. A year later, this is what I had learned.

The Back Story…

I had planned to take a gap year between high school and college ever since my sophomore year. I wanted to see and experience something other than academics and extracurriculars. My childhood hero was Mother Theresa, so I jumped at the opportunity to work with underprivileged individuals. And somehow I found myself in Middle-of-Nowhere New Hampshire, a new young staff at an addiction-recovery program for adults mostly older than me.

-32-2 …Continue Reading

Monday Inspiration: Bloom Where You’re Planted.

It’s so easy for me to think that I need all the perfect conditions in order to thrive. I have often told myself that if one aspect of my life were improved, then I would excel, be content, or achieve everything that I wanted to.

But the truth is, conditions are rarely perfect. Our lives are filled with difficult compromises and attachments that keep us from that pure sense of “freedom”–an elusive concept that, at least for me, really means a universe at which I am at the center.

Bloom where you're planted

Lately I have had a difficult time with desiring to do things that are just not possible for me right now. I’ve said to myself, if only I could… then I’ll be happy. Then things will be perfect.

The fact is, however, that we are planted in our circumstances without having to be enslaved to them. While circumstances can change, we are placed in our current location, given our current means, and we must thrive in that. We can choose to thrive in that. Our circumstances may dictate certain aspects of our daily lives, but they definitely do not dictate all aspects.

I was so encouraged to come upon these wildflowers (pictured above) during our hike in Utah. Their brilliant purple was an astonishing hue against the dusty reds and soft greens of the desert landscape. Despite harsh conditions, they bloomed where they were planted. 

This week I am determined to look for ways in which I can thrive in my circumstances. True freedom, as I’m learning, lies in the decision not to be hindered by those things we cannot change.

Happy Monday, everyone!

The Courage to Rest

There is something terribly dangerous about resting. That state of absence where we are not obliging our bodies or minds to any activity can mean relinquishing any opportunities that might come our way. Resting means we give up control– if but for a day or a few hours– and we allow the world to continue as it wills.

The courage to rest

I need rest, badly. This week was incredibly busy, and I have not felt this spent for months. Exhaustion can sometimes only be described as a state where the gears in our brains don’t seem to be turning, no matter how hard we try to crank them. We feel that loss of life within our hearts and spirits, drained and unable to pour out as much as we would like.

Resting takes courage. Resting says, “I am okay with what I’m missing. I’m okay with what I can’t do. I recognize my limits. I submit to my own needs.”

We are not a culture that likes to rest. In fact, those of us all too familiar with the work-hard-play-hard mentality understand that life can only be measured by intensity. We are comfortable on either end of the spectrum– intense work or intense play– but there is an ominous gap in the middle that we find terrifying. The place where neither work nor play happen. The place of rest….Continue Reading

On Borrowing Hope

I met up with some new friends this weekend, and somehow the topic of “borrowing hope” came up. It’s nothing complicated– simply the idea that when one is low on hope, hope can be borrowed from one’s friends and community. Others who experience more hope can share that hope with those who are downcast.

Hope has been on my mind lately. On a global level, I can say we live in an incredible world, but it is also a world that is broken by violence. Whatever hope we have in this world must lie beyond what we see right before us. And on a personal level, my efforts to simplify my life are reminders of where my hope is. My hope is not in my things and my distractions.

On Borrowing Hope …Continue Reading

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Disclaimer: Simplicity Relished is a for profit blog. Any company that I collaborate with is chosen by me and chosen because they fit the theme and readership of my blog. Copyright: If you see something you like here, please be encouraged to share it along with a link back to my site. All of the images and content here, unless otherwise noted or linked, is my own original work.