Exploring and Enjoying Your New Lifestyle
The inspiration for this blog came to us when we were walking down the long, white, sandy beaches of Indian Rocks one beautiful, sunny day. It struck us suddenly that life is short. Putting things off needlessly for an uncertain tomorrow never really worked. What if tomorrow doesn't come? Do what you can do today, and let tomorrow take care of itself.
The scenes as we walked on the soft sand made us reflect on the beauty of simple things. When you stop and enjoy the moment, things like the sight of a red kite fluttering in the sky; the laughter of the kids as they watched their kite flutter away can bring peace and contentment. A yacht sailing in the distance; the chirping and twittering (no, not the Twitter of social media) of seagulls and pelicans; the touch of soft sand under our feet, the feel of the warm water as the waves washed over our feet, the pretty little pebbles and seashells on the beach brings about a rightness to that moment in time.
At that moment, we realized that we had forgotten these little yet wondrous aspects of human life. Even if they are happening every day, as human beings, we had forgotten to enjoy the simple things in life. And that realization was, perhaps, the first step toward exploring and enjoying the new lifestyle that we had adopted for ourselves. A Simpler Life.
As we walked down the wooden, stilted path toward the bird sanctuary in this gorgeous place, our eyes opened to the beautiful wonders of nature. We were awed by the stupendous variety of birds that were available here, and it struck us how enormously big the rest of the world would be. If we were to spend even one minute noticing and observing each little aspect of nature, then perhaps one lifetime might not be enough to cover the joyful things that nature offers us.
It would be a shame to lose the power that life and nature offer to explore and enjoy the new lifestyle you have chosen to adopt. See if the suggestions below can help you have a new perspective on how to explore and enjoy your new life by embracing simplicity.
Go live your dream today, and don’t over complicate your life more than it already is! Aim for simplicity even as you live and enjoy each moment of your life fully and thoroughly. Here are some pointers that helped us explore and enjoy the new lifestyle that we had chosen.
Remind yourself that no one gets perfect at anything at the first attempt – Even if it was something as simple as learning to eat a new and unfamiliar dish, it takes time for your tongue to get used to the unique taste. Therefore, when you make significant changes in your lifestyle, it takes some time for your body and mind to adjust to the changes.
Every time you feel anxious about the changes, remind yourself that no one gets perfect at anything at the first attempt. It takes repeated and practiced effort to achieve perfection. So, keep trying and, with diligent practice, you will find ways and means to explore and enjoy your new lifestyle.
Recall the reasons why you made the changes in your life – For example, every time we get to enjoy the beautiful sunset or sunrise, we thank the universe for giving us the means for keeping us away from cold, snowy winters. Freedom from the backbreaking, snowy, cold Canadian winters was one of our biggest reasons for wanting a change in lifestyle.
Like this, recall the reasons why you made lifestyle changes. This approach will help you focus on the small but beautiful elements in your new life. The joy of sitting with a cup of coffee to watch the sunrise or sunset are small yet wondrous aspects of human life that many of us miss in the rat race of modern life.
So, take a step back and learn to identify new things and explore and enjoy them in your new life.
Be curious – Curiosity to learn and embrace new things in your life is a wonderful way to explore and enjoy your new lifestyle. You could see if these tips/suggestions help you as it helped us to build and strengthen the curious nature of our mind.
Don’t make assumptions – Explore all new things with a child-like curiosity that makes no assumptions. Get rid of all the old biases and judgmental attitudes and enter your new lifestyle with a clean and clear mind.
Ask questions – Why? How? What? When? Answers to all these questions help you explore and enjoy your lifestyle. Don’t worry about your questions being ‘stupid’ because there are no stupid questions in the world. Some of us have answers to some questions, while others have answers to other questions. Exchanging information and knowledge through questions and answers is an effective way to maintain a high level of curiosity.
Become comfortable with the uncomfortable – Don’t run away from trying out unfamiliar things. Get out of your comfort zone and do things you would typically not do. This approach of getting comfortable with the uncomfortable will help break your resistance to change and open your heart and mind to exploring and enjoying your new lifestyle.
Live with wonder – Look at everything with a sense of wonder. Many of us have forgotten to enjoy the small and simple things in life because we have ceased to wonder at the many beautiful things around us.
For example, take the leaf of an ordinary tree and try and identify its shape, color, texture, feel, etc. Be mindful of every little aspect of that small leaf. Recall your school biology class where you learned how this little green leaf can harness the power of the sun to make food for the tree to which it belongs!
When you focus on the beauty of nature, you tend to become more grateful for the various things in your life, which, in turn, helps you reduce your complaints against life and its many problems, and stop listening to negative media – turn it off.
And last but not least, the most crucial lesson that became of use to us when we tried to explore and enjoy our new life to the fullest was how to manage our fears and anxieties. Fear can be so debilitating that many of us prefer to do “the old” things even it is painful when compared to trying new experiences.
Therefore, every time you feel fear preventing you from living your life fully, remind yourself to put the fear into perspective. Is this fear real? Does it have any basis? Can I do something to manage the fear? These objective questions about your fears put them into perspective, and you feel empowered to try new experiences.
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