On Friday I had a sick child at home which forced me to confront my urge to be busy and on the move. Instead I had to stop & stay.

As my “simplifying” radar is currently on full, I was more aware than usual of all the uncomfortable feelings that this kept bringing up in me. It was an interesting day of increased self-knowledge. All morning I wanted to pop out for a myriad reasons; to tick various things off my to do list, pop to the shops for food, replace my deodorant from a specific shop, focus on some instagramming for work, source a new gas hob, etc.

I had so many reasons for not sitting still & being with her. I had an overwhelming urge to leave the house, get out of the space. It was a need on repeat verging on an illogical urge. And it took me by surprise.

But – thanks in part to Frugalwoods’ Financial independence and simple living course I had just completed, I stopped myself again and again. I did not spend the money at the various shops I had wanted to visit.

I did not do the work instagramming. I did not create unnecessary busyness. And this in large part to Courtney Carver from Be More with Less, her Busy Boycot challenge, and all her writing about busyness.

Courtney believes busyness is an unecessary scourge of our times and she offers ongoing advice to guard against it. Her Busy Boycott challenge is/was designed “to get us all thinking about the busyness in our lives and how there might be a better way.” The course is now closed but she has written lots about busyness so there is plenty to read.

With regards to a simple beautiful life, today’s frustration has been a great lesson. A sick child requires a slow, simple day. Turns out I’m a busy person who struggles with not spending. So it was a golden day of learning for me.

Maybe next time with the knowledge and experienced gained, I will find it easier to stop, be still, push work aside for a while, and hold my child while she is still little enough.

After all, considering the priorities in my life (& living a simple, more Minimalist life is ALL about living life according to priorities), my girls are pretty high up on the list.