Does your life need a good edit?

I appreciate the value of editing when I tell a story. I try to be ruthless and delete everything that’s unnecessary, ensuring the story is easy to read and the main message is clear. Extra words can clutter and distract. The same goes for our life. Extra commitments and belongings distract us from our intended storyline. I recently came across the idea of life editing, where you revise and correct your life, much like a manuscript.

I appreciate the value of editing when I tell a story. I try to be ruthless and delete everything that’s unnecessary, ensuring the story is easy to read and the main message is clear.

Extra words can clutter and distract.

The same goes for our life.

Extra commitments and belongings distract us from our intended storyline.

I recently came across the idea of life editing, where you revise and correct your life, much like a manuscript.

Think about the life you want and eliminate aspects that clutter and don’t contribute to the ideal story. You end up with an easier and more intentional life.

Graham Hill, founder of sustainability website treehugger.com goes as far as claiming that “The skill of the century is editing. Cutting back on space. Cutting back on possessions. Cutting back on media. Cutting back on friends.”

This year I’m going to edit my life.

I’m going to reduce my belongings and commitments.

We’ve already started to edit our belongings as part of our current move.

I’m struggling to balance a love for vintage and sentimental items with an appreciation for calm and uncluttered.

I’m tackling the process space by space, a draw, a bench top, then a cupboard. I’m hoping that I’ll eventually manage to edit and de-clutter an entire room.

We’re finding it hard to let go of sentimental, yet useless items.

Like the biscuit jar my husband’s Nan once owned. It’s fragile and cracked, so it can’t be used. Yet it’s clearly meaningful to him because he won’t let it go.

We have dozens of other equally useless items that we feel uncomfortable parting with.

I think I’ve found a solution that may help us. I will display framed photographs of each treasured item on a memorial wall for sentimental yet useless stuff. Realistically we’ll enjoy the photographs more as the items are usually hidden in a box or cupboard.

I find editing my commitments even more challenging. I spend too much time doing things that don’t matter, leaving too little time for activities that do. I’m taking an inventory of my commitments and will evaluate how each one adds value to my life. The next step is to edit out activities that add very little value.

I’m looking forward to an easier and more intentional life.

[Originally published in my column LESS IS MORE in the The Newcastle Herald Weekender Magazine 5 January 2013]

Does you life need a good edit too?

On taking a breather (my midlife gap year)

declared 2017 my ‘midlife gap year’—a year off to focus on living life rather than earning a living. A year to pause and ponder before moving onto the second half of my life. I embraced all the ‘r’ words: retreat, reflection, reevaluation, rejuvenation, and restoration. I found the whole experience so worthwhile, my midlife gap year extended to two years. It took that long for my pause to pay off, for me to reemerge—restored, renewed and ready.

How to create the time to live YOUR fair and sustainable life?

Almost a year ago I wrote here that I was going to step away from this space for a month – to focus on home and start the new year with a calm mind and a clear vision.

It seems one month wasn’t enough. This space became one of the many casualties of me ruthlessly clearing the clutter from my schedule. A move that was necessary for me to move even closer to living the life that I aspire to.

We can’t have and do everything – we have to choose. And I chose to focus on home for a while.