Everything We Own, Owns Us

                        In the Book Margin, the author Dr. Richard Swenson states “We all consume significant amounts of time in the buying and maintaining of things. A life of voluntary simplicity and contentment, on the other hand, is opposed to the unnecessary proliferation of material possessions.  It is free of the clutter most of society must sort through on a daily basis. With fewer possessions, we do not have as many things to take care of. With a simpler wardrobe, our choice of what to wear each morning becomes less time consuming. With a smaller estate, there will be less debt bondage in our work schedule.

                  Wow……..Was that as much of a gut check for you as it was for me the first time I read it?!? We have become so busy with “stuff” that we don’t have time to “stop and smell the roses”. I’ve certainly been in this place before and even though it was exciting for a while, I quickly burned myself out. I longed for “free” time, for time I could spend doing the things purposeful for my life.

                 Guess what? I didn’t just talk about making changes, it did it! I stopped accepting “let’s grab coffee” meetings to be pitched services and products that I had no interest in or letting people “pick my brain” about how I run my business or my blog. My time is valuable and time is money. There are people who make a living by providing the same information I was giving away for free! I created more behind the scenes structure for my Food Blog and mapped out a year long editorial calendar……Boy did that feel great! I purposefully spent more time reading the Bible and being in communication with God through prayer. I even wrote an article titled “The Art of Saying ‘No’ In Business” that was published in YFS Magazine with the premise being that saying ‘no’ to some things is essentially saying ‘yes’ to time better spent.

What are some things you know you need to say “no” to in order to allow room for more meaningful time in your life?

–Dr. April