My journey to simplicity

Things have been difficult lately, so I've mostly been resting and doing things to make me feel better. I  was looking for ways to cope with stress and saw a TED-Ed video talking about how chronic stress damages the brain. Great! Something else to stress out about!  But then the video went on to mention how exercise and meditation help reverse that damage. Phew! So for  the past week I've also been walking and doing a little weight training almost every day.  When things get overwhelming, I try to focus on something simple that I have control over. It helps me feel grounded and helps calm me down. Walking is definitely something simple I can do which might help improve my situation.  Even though I've never trusted any type of therapy before, I've also started cognitive therapy. I got to a point where I just didn't know how to deal with what I have to deal with. I think the most significant thing for now is my grief.  You see, even though we kne...

At the moment, I'm finding it difficult to trust my writing. Therefore, there's no real post for today.  As I've mentioned, I've been going through a difficult time and because I take this blog seriously, I don't want to post just anything to say I've met my deadline.  Most of the articles I posted in 2016 so far were written in advance. Sometimes I have ideas and write up a few posts before they're due. But what's left of what I've written, I haven't had the time or (I feel) the ability to edit properly. So all I'm posting today is this quick message. I'll continue writing to hopefully have something worthy of your time soon. 

In December, I mentioned I'd be taking a bit of break from any type of fixed structured challenges and that I'd be still for a while to let the dust settle. Well, life is such that the dust doesn't have much time to settle before some sort of crisis or adventure presents itself. In the short amount of time since that blog post, I've been hit with both crisis and adventure. The adventure is my relationship with Mr. Romantic. That's been going well. The crisis is a personal and family matter that I'm not ready to discuss here now, maybe ever. I can say, however, that it's definitely been a good thing I didn't have much of anything else to focus on. I've been able to give it the attention it needs. Even if I did have other projects or challenges on the go, I would have put them on hold to deal with what I need to deal with at the moment. Hopefully things will calm down sooner rather than later and maybe the dust will have time to settle... e...

I wrote last year that I was going to figure out my minimalist wardrobe  before the end of 2015. That hasn't happened. This is not for lack of trying. I've been trying to find simple classic quality pieces to form my ideal (for now) minimalist wardrobe since that post. I'm very frustrated to report that I haven't been able to find what I've been looking for! I've been making due with what I currently own. I have no choice. But my clothes are starting to wear out because I wear them often. I'm starting to panic a little because I can't find quality replacements, and I REALLY don't want to get into that whole fast fashion type of clothing. I don't like the look, the feel or the quality of the fabrics (materials) they use. I feel like I'm backed into a corner and don't have much choice on what to do. I either: Lose weight so that I have access to more clothing because plus size clothing stores are VERY limited. However, that takes a lo...