I've been living a simpler life for the last 18 months or so. Before this I was working on a string of temporary contracts that paid well, but meant working all the hours I could possibly manage. This, on top of losing some close relatives and caring for a young family, resulted in me struggling to cope with everything and a breakdown.
I left work and joined a company working part-time for way less money. This has helped and I am feeling much less stressed. I'm trying to simplify my life as much as possible, spending more time with family and getting back to being my true self. I don't think I've fully recovered - not sure I will fully - but I am getting there.
However, every now and then I will get the feeling that I should be doing more; career-wise mainly. This could happen for no real reason, but most recently it was triggered by meeting an old colleague and talking about work. I thought "I could do that again" and "I would enjoy that". I didn't think of all the negatives about that previous work, the long hours, travelling etc. Instead, I was thinking of the bits I enjoyed, the extra money, the fact I could be doing what I'd spent years training towards again, and perhaps some ego-related status thoughts were there too.
I'm feel I am happier now, that I'm living rather than trying to survive until retirement. Going back to more full-on work would not help my mental health, but I sometimes feel a pull to this, despite it being more complicated and less simple. It makes feel unsettled, like I'm not fulfilling my potential and less content.
Does anyone else feel a pull towards complicated, away from simplicity, even though simple clearly makes more sense? What do you do? How do you focus on a simple life and what's important to you?
Submitted August 19, 2018 at 03:48PM by megaflan https://ift.tt/2OLXNpG
