Hello! I was thinking back to my life when I was stressed out and overwhelmed. It felt like everything was hard and even little tasks seemed difficult.  I don’t ever want to go back to that and I want you to know that even as overwhelmed as you may feel right now, there is a way out.  You feel overwhelmed and stressed out when your priorities are out of whack and your time spent is doing things that aren't your top values.     Before you start to change your life to living simpler, you have to really know how you want to live and what really matters most to you.  For me, flexibility and freedom to spend time with family and grandkids making memories and making sure they know Jesus is a top priority for me, so being able to send them to camp and go to family camp for 10 days in the summer is very important to me along with being able to help them grow in their faith.     I also value living a natural life and being as self-sufficient or self-relient as we can by growing our own food and animals and teaching the next generation of the importance of canning and preserving food in different ways like freeze drying, but I certainly didn’t start there when I began this simple living journey.     I was in my early 20s with 3 young kids when I learned how to preserve green beans and tomato sauce by a neighbor I babysat for as a teenager, but I did not grow up with a garden or preserving any food, so no matter whether you did or didn’t learn these skills, there are so many resources to learn from with the internet and you just have to make time for it.  I did grow up on a farm and I did have chores in the barn to do, some cooking, but I was also involved in sports and many other activities at school, so I was rarely home after I hit 12 years old.     So after you decide what is important to you, start to minimize the things in your life that are NOT important to you.  As you start to minimize the less important items, you will start to be able to breathe easier and feel less overwhelmed.  Once you begin to feel less stressed, it will be addicting to do more to minimize the things in your life that are less important.  I am not talking about only minimizing physical items, but schedules and where you spend your time.     I am so excited for you to begin your simple living journey if you have not!  Monica Email -> monica@claimingsimplicity.com You Tube -> https://www.youtube.com/@claimingsimplicity/