my evergreen state: Simplify

Sunset from dinner on Sunday night...happiness really is in the simple things :-)

During this crazy season of life, I find myself getting overwhelmed easily. My to-do list is always a million miles long and I can't escape the feeling that it will never end! Need to get this for the wedding, need to book this for the honeymoon, need to have one of these in our new apartment. Don't get me wrong...it's all good stuff, but I still come home most days completely exhausted and wishing I could turn my mind off.

I recently got done reading Kisses From Katie and since then I have frequently found myself asking, "Do I really need this?" If you haven't heard of this book or blog, please go check it out. It's a true story of a girl a few years younger than me who moved to Africa, started a ministry for children and adopted 14 girls of her own. They don't have many possessions, but their lives are full. They are truly happy.

The lease on my car was up in June. Chris and I talked about it and realized, "You know what, we really don't need another car." So guess what...I have no car. I take the bus to work everyday and Chris bikes to work and we really only use his car on the weekend...so we're a one car family. And to be truthful...I don't miss it! No car payment, no filling up gas every few days, cheap car insurance. It works.

I am about to move this weekend to what will be Chris and I's first home. As I've been packing I am constantly going back to that question, "Do I really need this?". I feel most at peace when things around me are simple. And the funny thing is...I never realized how much I love the simple life until I started camping. Sounds cliche, but it's true! When you're camping you only have with you what you can carry on your back. It's when I'm laying in our tent at night, looking at the stars, smelling the fresh mountain air that I honestly get the peace I'm looking for. No clutter. No mind-racing. It's just simple.

So I have vowed to look at everything as a need vs. a want. I find that most things I've held on to are for emotional reasons and I haven't actually used or thought of them at all. I have WAY too many clothes...most of which I never wear. So Chris and I have decided to get rid of what we don't use and are trying to focus on evaluating what we really need in our lives (a little tough when you are registering for wedding gifts...sheesh)!

We're getting married, we're starting a new life together...as one. There are few things we really need in this world. And the older I get the more I realize it really isn't in the things...it's being with people I love, having a good meal in my belly, a place to sleep at night and purpose when I wake up in the morning. My attitude is transforming slowly, but surely.