Blog - Simply + Fiercely

Minimalism

6 Gentle Reminders About Minimalism

December 9, 2018

With the new year right around the corner, I recently set aside time to reflect on my blog and my writing—and one thing I noticed is I didn’t write much about minimalism this year. This wasn’t an intentional decision to avoid the topic (in fact, I didn’t actually realise how little I’d written until just now) but instead, a reflection of my life and experiences.

For me, 2018 has been all about transition as I’ve moved fully into the worlds of motherhood and self-employment. Out of necessity, I’ve been doing a lot of inner work in areas such as self-worth and emotional agility. These are related to minimalism (it’s all SO intertwined!) but I haven’t been connecting the dots here because it hasn’t been at the forefront of my mind.

Having said that, lately, I’ve noticed signs telling me it’s time to refocus my attention on minimalism.

While my life isn’t overly cluttered right at this moment, I can feel a growing need for stuff that didn’t exist this time last year. I might not be buying much (yet) but I’m browsing A LOT and I feel the urge to indulge in old, comfortable habits (like shopping when I’m bored or having a difficult day).

I can see that I need to act now and get myself back on track or I’ll risk ending up somewhere I don’t want to be. This is the inspiration for this blog post, which I’ve written for myself as much as for my readers. Here are six gentle reminders about minimalism, intended to help us all set the right intentions for the new year.

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Self Care

5 Ways to Be Kinder to Yourself

November 22, 2018

This post contains affiliate links. Click here for the full disclosure statement.

Last week was World Kindness Day and it reminded me that I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about being kinder … to yourself. This is a topic I feel quite passionate about because this year, I’ve invested a lot of time and energy into reconnecting with my self-worth, and a huge part of that effort has been learning to be kinder to myself.

At first, my thoughts turned towards the often repeated advice to “speak to yourself as you would to a child” and while I can appreciate this sentiment, practically it wasn’t enough to get me to where I wanted to go. Instead, I had to look deeper and see if I could dismantle some of the self-limiting beliefs and behaviours that were causing these unkind thoughts in the first place.

I spent a lot of time journaling and reflecting on my feelings (as I often do!) and began to notice a pattern of actions and beliefs that regularly gave voice to my inner mean girl. These are some of the ways I’m challenging her and effectively, learning to be kinder to myself.

Hopefully, some of these ideas will inspire you to be kinder to yourself as well. ❤️

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Minimalism

Doing Less + A Lesson in Self-Worth

November 10, 2018

This post contains affiliate links. Click here for the full disclosure statement.

At the end of the night, when you rest your head on your pillow, how do you feel?

Until a few months ago, my answer to this question would probably have been unsettled. Too often, I’d go to bed with a weight on my shoulders, a feeling of guilty heaviness about not getting enough done. It was slowly wearing away at my spirit; instead of the satisfaction and ease that I craved, there was an anxious voice in its place, steadily chanting “not enough”.

This is probably not what you were expecting from someone who regularly writes about simple and intentional living, and the truth is this anxiety surprised me too. As a minimalist, I thought I’d made peace a long time ago with needing “more” to be happy. After all, the person I am today is a far cry from the shopaholic and workaholic I once was.

But as I’m often reminding myself, how far you’ve come is not always a reflection of how far you have to go, and I realised I still had some inner work to do. I wanted to learn not only how to do less, but how to feel good about it too—because realistically, our to-do lists are never going away.

Here’s the story of what I’ve learned after a season of rest and reflection (I recently took a long break from blogging), as well as some resources that have helped me along the way.

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Intentional Living

4 Signs It’s Time to Press Pause (Why I Took A Break From Blogging)

September 3, 2018

Writing your first blog post after a long break is a bit like getting into a cold pool—you just have to take the plunge! So here I am 🙂 After five months away, I’m back and I’ve got so much to share about where I’ve been and what I learned. It’s way too much for one blog post, so to keep things simple, today I just want to talk about why I decided to go offline and press “pause” on my blogging life.

I know most people reading this aren’t bloggers but I think these ideas are fairly universal and applicable to anything we take on (from careers to hobbies or even relationships) so I hope you’ll find some value whatever your circumstances. It’s so easy to get caught up doing what “we’ve always done” but sometimes it’s necessary to step back for a bit. Here are four signs that told me it was time to “press pause” and take a break for rest and reflection.

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Interviews

Stories of Simply + Intentional Living: Charlotte Sapwell, Single Mum + Tiny Home Builder

April 1, 2018

This is the second post in a new series called Stories of Simple + Intentional Living. I’ll be interviewing people from all walks of life with one thing in common—their desire to live simple and intentional lives!

This month I’m chatting with Charlotte Sapwell. I met Charlotte on Facebook and I was immediately drawn to her—as a single mum with two young boys, she was facing homelessness until she turned her life around by building her own tiny home. Now she’s an advocate working to empower other single mums. Here is her story in her own words.

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Minimalism

3 Hard Truths About Simple Living

March 29, 2018

This is a post I’ve been thinking about writing for a long time but I’ve been putting it off because I haven’t been sure how to approach it—so I’ve finally decided to just tackle it head-on.

As simple living has become mainstream (or at least more popular), there are some myths/misunderstandings that are becoming prevalent. I don’t think anyone in the simple living community is being intentionally misleading or saying anything that’s untrue but without a doubt, many of us (yes—myself included) are contributing to the confusion.

Whether we’re actually selling any real products or not, most of us are “selling” simple living as a solution to many of life’s problems—and while I truly believe it can be life-changing, it’s also important to understand there are limits and that filling a few trash bags with stuff won’t magically change your life overnight.

So with that in mind, I hope this post will offer a balanced view of not just the wonders but also the limitations of simple living.

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Interviews

Stories of Simple + Intentional Living: Sarah Hartley from Holl & Lane

March 4, 2018

This post is the first in a new series called Stories of Simple + Intentional Living. I’ll be interviewing people from all walks of life with one thing in common—their desire to live simple and intentional lives!

This month, I’m chatting with Sarah Hartley, the creator of Holl & Lane magazine. What really inspires me about Sarah is the way she combined her dream of creating a magazine with her vision of empowering women through untold stories. I think it’s a beautiful example of intentional living and I’m so excited to share her story with you today!

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Intentional Living

7 Questions to Inspire Intentional Living

February 12, 2018

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know I believe in the power of intentional living, but it hasn’t always been that way.

In fact, for most of my life, you could say I lived with a complete lack of intention! I was always busy, always rushing from project to project, always adding more and more to my life—but never pausing to reflect and question my actions.

As a result, I wasted a lot of time running in circles, working hard but not actually working towards anything that mattered to me. It was stressful and to be honest, demoralising because I invested so much of myself but felt like I was getting nothing in return.

It wasn’t until I learned about intentional living that I realised asking questions and taking time for self-reflection wasn’t a waste of time—it was actually the most important thing I could do if I wanted to live a meaningful life.

If you’re ready to get off the treadmill and become a conscious creator of your own life, then here are 7 questions to inspire intentional living.

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Self Care

How to Turn Around a Bad Day: A Step By Step Guide

January 29, 2018

Like most people with an interest in personal development, I’ve always been fond of a good inspirational quote—and lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about a favourite:

“Choose your mood.” – source unknown

It’s a simple but powerful reminder that, while things may not always go exactly to plan, we always have a choice about how to react when life throws us a curveball.

This is so relevant for me right now because with a four-month-old, a LOT doesn’t go according to plan—and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it’s ~~sometimes~~ often frustrating!

Of course, I can’t put all the blame on my little munchkin; I was having bad days long before she arrived! Kids or no kids, challenging days are inevitable, but how we react is up to us. We can choose to give in to the negative voices in our heads or we can take steps to turn things around.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been working hard to choose the second option more often than the first. Some days it takes me longer than others (and some days it just doesn’t happen) but mostly, I’m finding I really can “Choose my mood” when I put my mind to it. Step by step, here’s what works for me.

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