At this point in my life, I don't think anyone is surprised when I start a new project or venture.
They might shake their head, laugh a little bit, and once again question my level of sanity or common sense, but they're no longer surprised because that's how I've always rolled — a ton of different things going at any given time, a weird mash up of perfectly organized and a total hot mess.
For years, I've just accepted the fact that I would always be like that and my life would always be at least a little bit complicated. In fact, there have been many moments where I've taken pride in it. The number of activities and things I've been involved and interested in over my lifetime borders on ridiculous and it usually takes a couple of years of knowing me before someone is no longer shocked when they learn about something else I currently or used to do.
For this reason, I don't think anyone was surprised when I launched this blog back in June and launched a brand new small business just a few weeks later.
Whenever people would say things like "jack of all trades, master of none" or talk about the importance of finding your thing and honing in on it, lest you confuse people, I laughed them off. That might apply to some people, I thought, but it doesn't apply to me. I lauded the wisdom of "just because you can doesn't mean you should" without practicing its wisdom in my own life.
What was the big deal about running a business and a couple of blogs and having a YouTube channel? They were all things I loved, so it couldn't possibly be stressful or overwhelming to manage them all, right? Wrong.
My life has been a little bit all over the place for the last few years, partially due to things Jesus is doing that I don't fully understand and partially due to my own choices.
This is what I'm learning: too much of a good thing is still too much.
Do I love my business? Yes. Do I love this blog and sharing what I'm learning and loving about simple living? Yes. Do I love contributing to No Sidebar and other blogs? Yes. Do I love writing on my own personal blog and using it as a space to encourage other people through my words? Yes. Do I love making videos about books and sharing that love with people? Yes.
It's not a question of loving or not loving different things. You can love things individually, but collectively they can deplete you. And when that happens, you have to be deliberate about choosing how to let all of those different loves show up in your life and consider what you might have to completely say no to in your particular season, or maybe even forever.
Over the last few weeks, I've done a lot of thinking about all the things I do. Having so many irons in the fire, as it were, was burning me out without me even realizing it. I found myself overwhelmed, stressed, and frazzled — the exact opposite of what someone who's spent the last few years simplifying their life should be feeling.
Even after coming up with systems to better handle and organize pretty much everything in my life, I still found myself stressed and not really having time for the things I wanted to make time for. And I found the things that once energized and excited me now depleted me.
I struggle sometimes with the amount of time it often takes me to learn lessons and how publicly I've learned some of those lessons over the last few years. It's humbling on many different levels. And it's humbling to write this today — to admit, just as I did back in March, that I took on too much. That I may be a bit abnormal or even extraordinary (or so I'm told), but I'm still human. I still have my limits and I cannot do everything I wish I could do.
So, for the sake of my sanity and my need for simplicity, we're pivoting. Again.
From here on out, I will no longer be posting regularly on Simplify by Sarah. I will still be writing blog posts about simple living, but mostly as a contributor to the No Sidebar team, rather than here on this platform. And I will still be sharing about simple living on a regular basis, but that sharing will happen over on the Simplify by Sarah Instagram account, where the content is shorter, more conducive to "in the moment" living, and (if we're being honest) doesn't stress me out like this blog has for the last couple of months.
For those of you who aren't on Instagram, all of the content posted on there will be sent directly to the Simplify by Sarah Facebook page, so you can follow along there if you'd like. It's also possible that I may start sending out a monthly newsletter with a few thoughts about what I've been learning, brands I've discovered, or things of that nature...but no promises. (And if that's something you'd be interested in, please let me know!)
This site and the content here will still be available in some form, though I'm still sorting all of that out as well.
If you've loved the content you've seen here, I hope you will still join me along this journey, even as things shift and I sort through all the changes. Thank you for coming with me thus far. It means the world.
Photo by Khai Sze Ong on Unsplash
