Pura Vida Pt. 2: Simplifying from the inside out

Good Morning readers,

A little more food for thought on the topic of finding happiness in the world around you…Or, we could also call this the ramblings that me, myself, and I bounce around on a daily basis.

Pay attention and understand the difference between what you like and What you think you should like.

No matter how important or trivial the thing in question is, we are humans and these sometimes extreme, sometimes minute, differences are what make us individuals. The idea that all of us enjoy the same things kind of goes against the basic notion of what our humanity is.

For example;

• I like filing my nails. I think I’m supposed to like painting my nails; I don’t.
• I like listening to podcasts. I think I’m supposed to like watching TV; I don’t.
• I’m 25 years old and I like meal-prepping and going to bed by 11. I think I’m supposed to party my way through my 20’s while they last and be responsible later; Meh.

Now let’s take the reverse for a moment. There are somethings this ‘new positive, simplified me’ thinks I should NOT like doing that I just plainly do.

• I like blow drying my hair. In a carefree world, my hair should be so as well. Therefore, I think I should not like blowdrying my hair. I like blowdrying my hair.
• I like shopping. I think I should not like shopping; simplified=less shopping *sigh*. Ok honestly, I like shopping but I’m really trying to work on it. It’s really not that rewarding after a while and I regret my purchases more than half the time. Clearly this is a terrible example.

This is hard to do! So many of these majority opinions have dominated me for so long that I actually don’t know the difference between what I like and what I think I should like. We can apply logic here to break it down and make this process easier;

1. What do I do first, and what do I save for later?
2. What do I find myself thinking about subconsciously?
3. What am I doing when I DO NOT feel bored?

This last one especially I think is good. When I am bored I often search my mind for something that I believe ‘one does’ in the absence of responsible activity. Like watching TV, something I don’t really like. So obviously the retort here would be ok so listen to a podcast because you said you like that. This brings about the difference between not liking something, and not feeling like doing something:

I like cooking, I don’t always feel like doing it.

I’m going to end this here before I start going in circles around my paragraphs. My grand takeaway is this. Simplify your life by determining what things you as an individual enjoy, and what things you only believe you enjoy. Once you have this down, eliminate these filler activities as they really don’t apply to you, again, as an individual and enjoy a life free of pointless activities that bring you no joy. 

❤ Cammy