The #1 Benefit of Simple Living

Living a simple life does not necessarily mean living an easy life. Sometimes, it requires a lot of hard work especially at the beginning of your journey. And here’s I believe the #1 benefit of simple living.

When we embrace simple living, we live a life with purpose.

When life becomes too complicated, all we feel are disappointments. And we can’t focus on the things that matter. We can’t focus on our purpose.

We can’t even figure out what’s our purpose. Because we feel overwhelmed of the things in front of us.

When we focus on the #1 benefit of simple living – living a life with purpose – everything will follow.

We become mindful of our belongings.

I’ll be honest. I was a huge money spender. And so is every one who isn’t being mindful of the things they own.

I remember in the year 2019, I was hooked on digital illustrations. I knew I could do it in Photoshop. Here’s Jennifer Aniston’s portrait I did in Photoshop.

But I wanted to draw using ProCreate, which required an iPad – which at that moment, I didn’t have.

So, I bought an iPad and learned ProCreate. After about 3 months, I realized I wasn’t using it already. In just a couple of days, I was able to sell it in a lower price.

A couple of weeks the same year, I have decided to workout and lose weight but I thought I needed a smartwatch to track my progress. So, I bought a smartwatch.

After a couple of months, guess what? I didn’t lose weight. And I wasn’t maximizing the function of my smartwatch.

It’s natural for us to desire for material things. And most of the time, we convince ourselves we need those things to survive. But later on, we realize that those are just wants.

These things happen when we aren’t aware of our purpose. In living a simple life, we tend to ask ourselves if a new stuff that we aim for aligns to our purpose.

We become mindful of our finances.

When we know our purpose, we become mindful of our belongings, which results in being mindful of our finances.

I remember I bought an iPad for about $500. And in just 3 months, I sold it for $380. So, in just 3 months, I lost $120, just because I thought I needed an iPad for my digital illustration journey. I actually don’t do digital illustrations already. I just tried if I could do it.

We don’t have to restrict ourselves from exploring new learning and career. But when we fall into this trap of “explore new things,” we’ll eventually fall into “buy new things.”

Here’s what I normally do at present when I want to explore and learn new things. I find ways to do it without spending any amount. Most of the time, it works.

And when the time comes that I think I’m ready to spend for it, I include it on my budget so I know which part of my expenses will be compromised.

One example is when I tried using a productivity app called TickTick. I might actually have used a thousand productivity apps but this one really helped me a lot.

But when I first downloaded it, I used it for free. I was used to downloading an app and then uninstalling it again because I didn’t find it that useful. So I was aware that buying an app upfront wasn’t good for me.

After a couple of months, my productivity has greatly improved with the help of this app. And at that point, I felt I have found a gem in the world of productivity. So the price would be worth it because I already saw its benefits in my life.

We tend to spend less when we know something isn’t essential. Eventually, we aim to save for the future instead of spending on inessential things at present.

We become mindful of our surroundings.

If you’re at home right now, look around you. Are you using all your stuff in front of you? Let’s be honest. We barely use most of them. Good for you if you’re already maximizing your space with the things you do use.

I’m guilty of hoarding all the stuff in the world as well. The thought of “I might need it someday” keeps us motivated to hoard everything.

The result? Our surroundings are all cluttered.

When we live a life with purpose, we become aware of the things that we need instead of dealing with all the stuff in our home we barely use.

Now guess what. Owning less leads to spending less. When we become mindful of our surroundings, we become mindful of our stuff and finances as well.

We appreciate life.

When was the last time you thank someone for doing something good for you?

When our lives are full of unnecessary stuff, we tend to forget the things that make us happy in the first place. Eventually, we forget to appreciate how blessed we are.

If you feel you aren’t blessed enough, I’d say you are. Otherwise, you can’t even have the “free time” and be here reading my blog, browsing your phone or computer.

Living a life with purpose leads us to appreciate even the small things that we have. Other people can’t even afford to have a free time. But they still can put a smile on their faces.

When we live a life with purpose, which is ultimately the #1 benefit of simple living, we tend to be more grateful of the things that we have.

We discover that life is simply beautiful. And we see that God’s creation is just amazing.

We discover the reason of our existence.

Have you ever come to a point in your life when you’re asking yourself, “why do I even exist?”

When we can’t reach our goals, when we are disappointed with our life’s happenings, when we can’t be in good terms with the people around us, we feel not so important, right?

It’s like all our plans fail.

But guess what? Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

When we free our mind of the clutter of life, we can have the time to discover God’s purpose in our lives. And when that time comes, we’ll discover the reason of our existence.

Living a simple life might mean giving up to the stuff we thought we wanted but we don’t needed.

It also means giving ourselves a chance to discover what life is really all about not just in our own perspective, but more importantly in God’s perspective. And it leads us to the #1 benefit of simple living, living a life with purpose.

In starting a simple life, you may not see the benefits upfront. But eventually, the journey to discovering your purpose will become a reality.

And when that time comes, let’s talk about it. I’ll be waiting for you.