TOW: Scaling Back

You know, I'm really a lot happier these days in my new place.

Why is that? I have a single bed, my room is a little drafty, and to be honest, it's not like my stress level has lowered significantly. I'm still living at a pretty fast pace, and have too many responsibilities, bills, and dramas to let me feel the way I should feel. Frankly, I should be losing hair left, right and centre. (Thankfully, still have that hair. Whew!)

I used to be completely going crazy with the lack of hygiene in my apartment, and when I accepted it (ie. time to leave) I felt so much better about everything. I decided I didn't want to commute to school everyday, I wanted to be able to walk there. Now I can. It's the little things.

What I've attributed it to is that where I live is less stressful, less drama-filled, and just less of everything. I'm living with less in a lot of ways, and yet, I'm immensely happier.

Happiness relies on having less, not more. Happiness is always happier with less, and sadness is always accompianed by there being too much of something in our lives. It's never the case that it's because we're missing something--because humans are resilient creatures--we can always do with less. But it's when we get overstimulated that things tend to really fall apart. I can handle not hearing music for a while, even if it makes me a bit sad--but I can't stand listening to korean kareoke every Wednesday night until 2am when I have a 17 hour day on Thursdays. It doesn't quite work out for me.

Scaling back means decluttering your life of those stressful people, objects, and activities that make your life nearly unbearable. Whether it's a relationship, a living situation or just something that is broken that can't be fixed, scaling back means accepting some things can be changed, and some things can't. I am slowly eliminating the things in my life that cause me the kind of stress that is really draining and negative, and I think the more I continue to do this, the happier I'll be.

Well, I should go to bed. I'm tired and it's Thursday tomorrow. No rest for the not-so-wicked. =)