Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Tough choices, dissapointments and simplifying

I am not entirely sure where this post is headed because my mind is in about a million different places right now. There are things I want to say but not sure I should and there are things I am going to say and be glad that I did!

I feel like right now in my life, more so than ever, I have been faced with difficult and uncomfortable situations. Sometimes, being an adult just plain sucks! I know we can all attest to that.

All around me I feel like tragedy is touching people's lives..... lives of people I know well, and some not so well.

It hurts my heart so much to know that people I love are struggling and there is not much I can do about it. I hate the feeling of feeling helpless.

I have been thinking a lot about life in general lately, and have come to some realizations.  Amidst all of this tragedy my resolve has kicked in. Maybe I can't help everyone or take the pain away but there are things I can do, even if  they are little things. There are things I can do to improve my own life too  I feel as if I have put too much emphasis on certain things when it comes to me, personally, and I feel like it is time to simplify things a bit.

By simplifying I mean every aspect of my life. I want to spend more time at home, scale back on eating out and try cooking more from scratch. I need to refocus on getting back into better shape and start tackling some of those projects that have been put off. Most importantly, though, I want to work on strengthening all of the relationships in my life (marriage, friendships, family). I feel like my wants are far outweighing my needs and that should change. We want to cut out our debt and build up our savings more. That means I need to start saying no to things that I really want to do, but know in my heart that I shouldn't.

My life is far from perfect ( no one has  a perfect life) but I am constantly trying to remember how blessed I really am when I start to feel down about things. I need to remember that although I can't do it all, I can do a little.

10 comments:

  1. We are in that same boat right now. I want us to focus more on our "needs" instead of the instant gratification that we get from dinners or movies out. Good luck :) !!

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  2. Ashley - good for you! Sometimes it can be so hard to make the choice to scale back on spending, or to cook at home because going out is so much easier! I admire you putting this post out there and I'm sure you will achieve these goals you've set :)

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  3. I feel the same way. I really want to scale back and enjoy what we have instead of wishing for things we don't. It's hard.

    Being an adult is no fun sometimes!

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  4. Life is pretty hard sometimes, and what makes it better is spending time with the ones we love, taking care of them and letting them take care of us. Wishing you a beautiful week...may happier days lie ahead.

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  5. Ashley you are an awesome awesome person and I know this just from reading your posts and the fact that you always keep it real and are willing to acknowledge where you need to make changes in your life. I wish you well with this xo

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  6. I really think we all need to simplify, uggg, it's so much easier said than done right?!

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  7. I think we could all use some more simplifying in our lives. But at the end of the day, for me, man it is so hard. Especially literally at the end of the day, when I don't really want to cook and I am at my wit's end with the kids, etc. Good for you for trying harder. I'm going to take a page from your book and try as well.

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  8. ashley, you have such a beautiful heart. i love this post. isn't it crazy how the littlest of things can make the biggest difference.
    i love your honesty and i can completely relate to so much of what you're saying.
    i wish you nothing but happiness...you and your family deserve nothing less.
    thank you for being a wonderful friend...and supporting me in a big way.
    <3<3<3
    maria

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  9. This is exactly what I have been doing since my last baby was born. I know that in order to get to where I want to be and in order to be happy, life needs to be simple. While it is hard to change, we have found that life has become much nicer, although there are times that I wish that I could hire a sitter and go see the newest movie out, but until our savings is built up the way we want it to be, we are out of luck there. I found your blog from sitsgirls.com and I am so glad that I did! I have three energetic little boys and I write all about parenting active kids at Adventures of the Triple B's, http://thetriplebs.blogspot.com.

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