Subtract Your Chaos
This is the last day of August and we are officially fully submerged into the chaos that Fall brings into our lives. The extra school/sports activities on top of two full-time working parents makes us wonder why our kids need extracurriculars in their lives.
Last week there was not ONE evening where we didn’t have something going on. Some days we ate dinner at 4pm and just had a snack before bed, other days we ate a snack at 4pm and a full dinner at 8pm. My husband and I both lead active lives so we have to get up at 4am to make sure we can both get in our workouts.
And to top things off? My daughter had strep this week.
To say my life is chaotic is a bit of an understatement.
I definitely can not handle any MORE in my life, which is why it’s a perfect time to do some subtracting.
Last April I participated in something called The Subtraction project. To quote the creator, Cass McCrory, herself “The Subtraction Project is a 30 day email subscription that provides daily prompts to subtract the extra in your home, your inbox, your brain and your life so that everything adds up. The best part: It’s free. No subtracting from your wallet.”
I approached almost all of those prompts with excitement, happy to de-clutter one area of my life. There were a few days where the prompt didn’t necessarily relate to my life – like the closet prompts, as I don’t have a lot of clothing in my closet as it is! But, I was so overcome with the motivation of the project, that I found myself adapting those prompts to make them more personally applicable!
It basically kept me in the “LESS IS MORE!” mode for the entire month, and even helped instill some practices that I carried past April. And along with the prompts, Cass always included these great inspirational tidbits about why we needed to tackle this area of our life. Some days I needed those more than the organized pen jar.
While the project is ongoing in terms of periodic email prompts, there hasn’t been another 30 day challenge since April. UNTIL NOW. She’s starting another 30 days worth of prompts on Monday, September 1st – TOMORROW! You can subscribe here and get these prompts directly to your inbox every day. I promise you, you won’t regret it.
I documented a few of my more concrete challenges last year with Before and After photos. I tackled small areas of my life, but gaining control over those areas helped me cope with the greater chaos much better. Good luck, and happy subtracting!
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