9.00 pm
Before: How I used to live?
- I used to watch TV or sat in front of my laptop till it was time to go to bed.
- I used to have difficulties to fall asleep because my head was so full of work stuff and things that needed to be taken care of.
Changes: What changes I´ve made to my life since I started to pay more attention to my wellbeing and simplify my life?
- I´ve learned the meaning of fulfilling my basic needs and mental rest. When our girls were small I learned to nap with them. I used every chance to sleep more and went to bed as early as possible because I never knew how many times I would have to wake up during the night.
- I´ve learned mercifulness and compassion towards myself. I often say to myself “No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough” like Brenè Brown put it. It´s from her book The Gifts of Imperfections. I warmly recommend it! I also give myself permission to fall asleep peacefully by gently pushing away all the worries and work from my mind. “All work can wait till the morning. Now, the most important thing is sleeping“, I often say to myself.
- I´ve learned to talk more about the things and thoughts that bother me. When something (anything!) bothers me, I tell it to my husband. Then the thing often goes away or becomes smaller so that it doesn´t prevent me from falling asleep peacefully.
- I´ve learned to just be. Our family loves to snuggle up in bed. We read some bedtime stories, talk together about our day, thoughts and plans. For us it´s family quality time, but it´s also important time for calming down and preparing us to fall asleep peacefully.
- We´ve also learned to sleep at the right temperature and to take advantage of blockout roller blinds during times when it´s still bright when we go to bed (that can really be a problem in Finland during the summers). When it´s dark, your body starts to induce melatonin. It’s a hormone that helps as to fall asleep.
After: What kind of positive effects I´ve noticed now that I´ve been able to get closer to Living Simply.
- I´m more positive and energetic: Quality rest and sleep during the night means more positive thoughts and energy during the day.
- I´m more creative: If you´re tired all the time, you can´t expect your creativity to blossom. Also creative thoughts need energy to be born. So, give your brain a chance to rest and recharge.
- My stress management has improved: It is so true that you handle stress at home and work so much better when you´ve slept well and enough!
- My metabolism has improved: You can´t drive a car without fuel. Your body needs fuel too. Food is fuel, but so is sleeping. Sleep well and eat well. That´s the way to boost up your metabolism!
- My self-image has improved: It´s funny how I see myself more beautiful when I’ve slept well and enough. So, if you want to feel yourself (and be) beautiful, give yourself enough rest and sleep!
Next post will be the final post in this post series. It will be a summary about the most important things on your way to living simpler and feeling better.
Click to read the On the way to Simple Living: Intro.
Read all posts from my post series called On the way to Simple Living.
