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It’s the simple things in this life that truly make me happy—simplicity for the win.

Sure, extravagance has its benefits. But there is something enchanting about plain, old simpleness that brings pure happiness into every aspect of my life.

Have you ever seen “Rocky IV?” Rocky’s basic simple training was able to conquer and prevail during his match against Drago and his extravagant high-tech training. Why? Because simple had heart.

I didn’t always feel this way. Growing up in the city as a poor kid, I had dreams to live a luxurious life when I grew up. I worked really hard to live this lavish life I am living now.

I quickly realized living this type of life came with an abundance of stress and anxiety. I wasn’t even able to enjoy this life I built for myself.

To afford this type of living, I was working as much as I could. The more money I made, the more lavish my life became, which included additional stress.

I wasn’t even having fun.

So I decided I wanted to enjoy my life. I thought about when I was happiest. It brought me back to when I was a young single mom of my oldest daughter. We lived in a tiny little apartment in the city. We had no money. We would make Ramen Noodles every night for dinner. It was a simple life we lived.

I worked while she went to school. We had dinner together every night. On weekends we would go to the park. We were happy because we were together. Things were simple.

We can all be comfortable with a simple life, and simple life can be beautiful.

Living a simple life will allow us to live a real and authentic life more easily. We still need to work hard every day to provide for our families, but we are less stressed because there is not so much to worry about.

So I began my mission to live a simpler life. Here are four ways to make our lives more simple:

1. Let go of attachments

We need to let go of the unnecessary attachments. We really don’t need as much as we think we do. We can start by unsubscribing to monthly plans that we really don’t need.

I had this spa treatment plan where I paid a monthly fee for a spa treatment, but I could never use it because I was so busy. The plan kept charging me month after month and year after year. If I didn’t have time to actually use the services, why did I need it?  So I canceled.

We can cancel with a music subscription, cable television, lawn care services, or anything to simplify our lives. Get rid of it. We can really go crazy here and get rid of our smartphones, social media accounts, or credit cards. The list is endless of things we actually don’t really need.

Start small and go bigger as time goes on. We are trying to simplify our lives, and there is no need for anything but the essentials.

2. Declutter our home

We can slowly declutter our lives which will help declutter our minds. This will help with stress and worry. I’m not saying stress and worry go away, but we limit the stress and worry if we declutter.

Get rid of clutter in our homes. Having less stuff means less time cleaning, a stress-free way of living, and more money to save for important things like leisure activities, adventures, and time with loved ones.

Decluttering our homes will even make us feel uncluttered. It’s pretty amazing what an open space can do to our minds.

3. Slow down and do one thing at a time

We are always in a rush to do it all—like yesterday. We cram in as much as possible every single day.

If we slow down and do one thing at a time, we can relax our minds and enjoy everything we are doing. We can concentrate on the task at hand and do a good job on everything we work on. Slowing down just makes each task more simple.

4. Enjoy the little things

Life is filled with a bunch of moments. There is rarely one big boom that makes us happy. But if we enjoy all the little things, we enjoy every moment in this life which makes up our life as a whole.

Appreciate all those little things—even the simplest of things like enjoying a cup of coffee while watching the sunrise.

Fun fact, the best places to live a simple life are Tucson, Arizona; Greenville, South Carolina; Montpelier, Vermont; Logan, Utah; and Iowa.

So if we’re going all-in on this simple life thing, we could consider one of these simple life locations.

We have to really want it to make it happen. It’s going to be hard to give up the extravagant lives we are used to. But if we are choosing to go simple, it won’t be too much of a struggle.

We won’t miss it. We’ll be busy enjoying iced tea on the porch or watching a shooting star.

By choosing a simpler life, it will make our lives happier and more fulfilled.

Simple living is what we choose to make. Once we start simplifying, we’ll find that we feel happier, healthier, more focused, and enjoy life much more.

Simplicity is a success for our lives—not a failure.

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