How to Slow Down, Enjoy Your Life and Live More Intentionally.
Unlocking Your Full Potential: Creating More Room In Your Life
“Make your life a meaningful one” -Sunday Adelaja
Are you feeling overwhelmed with your life?
It’s not unusual for people to feel overwhelmed at the thought of how much they have on their plate.
If you want more time for yourself while still being effective in your day-to-day, then it may be time to find and create more room and simplify your life.
By managing your mind differently and eliminating what doesn’t align with your values, you will start living from a place of self-compassion instead of self-criticism or judgment. It will allow you to focus on the bigger picture.
After listening to Natalie Bacon’s Design Your Dream Life podcast episode Create More Space And Simplicity In Your Life, I was inspired to write this article.
The episode teaches you how creating more space and focusing on the bigger picture will help you live your life with more joy and intention.
“An unintentional life accepts everything and does nothing. An intentional life embraces only the things that will add to the mission of significance.” John C Maxwell
What Does It Mean to Create More Room and to Simplify Your Life?
Let me clarify that this article isn’t about decluttering your house, although that never hurts!
We all know that life happens. From time to time, there will be emergencies, we’ll have low energy, or there might be an opportunity that comes up that we want to take advantage of.
It’s not a matter of if you’ll be thrown a curveball from time to time but when it will happen.
If we’re completely booked, and there is no space in our schedule and our life to accommodate unpredictables and time of rest when we need it, life becomes that much more overwhelming.
It’s all about creating a buffer room in all aspects of your life.
Simplify your life by managing your mind differently and eliminating what doesn’t align with your values.
Benefits of Creating More Space In Your life
If you are always in reactive mode, you don’t have space to think about the bigger picture.
How can you be less reactive, and how can you intentionally focus on aspects of your life that bring you the most value and joy? Be it time, energy, and money, how can you ensure you allow space for more of it when you need it?
By creating space in your life for big-picture thinking, you get to maximize the good energy of your time and stay committed to what is important to you. You also stop doing things you don’t enjoy and prioritize your energy on things that bring you fulfillment and contribute to your bigger goals.
Have time for the things you love
What are some of your favorite things to do that don’t currently have a spot in your calendar?
Whether it’s reading, going for walks, catching up with a friend, painting, etc. — ensure you have space in your life to incorporate some of your favorite things.
How can you eliminate some of the things you don’t enjoy and add more of what brings you joy?
Have room for challenges
We all go through seasons of life. It might be going through significant life changes like a new job, starting a family, moving to a new place. We sometimes forget to allow space to let ourselves go through those adjustments and seasons of life.
Gain more clarity
Allowing for more space and simplicity in your life will give you a chance to focus on the bigger picture. You will be much more focused on your day-to-day life and enjoy it that much more because you live with intention.
By creating that extra space, you get a clearer perspective on what you want your priorities in life to look like without needing to say no to all things. And by simplifying and focusing on only what matters most right now, you can make more time for what you love.
“The key is not to prioritize your schedule but to schedule your priorities.” Steven Covey
How to Create More Room in Your Life?
In Bacon’s podcast episode, she highlights four ways to create more room in your life: be intentional, be decisive, be disciplined, and be focused.
Be Intentional
Intentional living is not going to happen on its own — you have to create it.
Taking time to reflect on your life goals and desires is an essential part of our foundation.
Be Decisive
As with many aspects of life, the more we stay focused and prioritize what is important to us, the easier our lives will be.
It can be hard to practice, but it’s essential to decide what you are committed to and dedicate your energy toward those things.
Be Disciplined
Being disciplined means saying yes to everything that aligns with what you want and no to everything else.
Keep in mind that your priorities will change as you move toward building a life that aligns with what you want. Therefore, you may have to make adjustments as your life changes.
Be Focused
Once you have the discipline to know what you want and what you don’t want, you need to prioritize a few priorities. Those will become what you focus on.
“Work on Purpose, Play on Purpose, Rest on Purpose. Do not let yourself or anyone else waste your time.” Izey Victoria Odiase
Final Thoughts
What are you sacrificing because you’re not prioritizing yourself?
It all comes down to stop doing the things you don’t like and starting doing things you love.
When we take care of everyone else, it’s easy to lose sight of our wants and needs. When you don’t plan your life, somebody else will enjoy doing so for you.
