Written by Emily McDermott. I just read this article on No Sidebar about digital decluttering.

One paragraph struck me in particular as it clarifies quite simply the reason for the choice of living with less and living more simply. Here it is below:

When my phone gets close to its 16GB capacity, it starts acting strangely. Apps close without notice. The battery seems to drain quickly. We are the same. When we are overloaded and overwhelmed, our energy is drained. We act in ways that run counter to who we think we are and who we want to be.

And I don’t wish to live my one precious life like this.

• This is why I regularly give things away
• This is why I deal with and/or delete emails every day
• This is why I keep a To Do list
• This is why I try to put my phone down when I am spending time with my daughters
• This is the reason for not overloading my or my girls’ schedules
• This is the reason for not overloading my schedule
• This is why I try to get enough sleep
• This is why I do my best to make time to meditate every day
• This is why I set myself challenges –
  • to live without alcohol
  • to live a month without spending
  • to drink water daily (a big personal challenge)
  • to meditate daily
  • to write 2 stream of consciousness pages daily
  • to do 4 down dogs a day
• And to record it all in this blog

I enjoy creating a simple, beautiful life.

I am the captain of my ship and as such I take full responsibility for my life.

It is an ongoing challenge and joy – to prioritise those parts of my life that are important to me and make decisions based on those parts.

It reminds me of the years I was a vegetarian in a restaurant: there are fewer choices to weigh you down as half the menu was not available for me to eat!