“With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy.” -Lope De Vega
The things in my life that bring me the most happiness are simple things: a warm cup of coffee, an over-sized sweater, a long walk outdoors. In fact, most of my happiness doesn’t come from things at all. It comes from dog snuggles, or visiting my mom, or seeing my husband after a long day. But it’s hard to remember the simple things when there are pictures of exotic locations and expensive doodads flooding my feed. Today I want to encourage you to focus on the small things that bring us the most happiness and I will do the same.
How are you focusing on simple things and living without envy? Let’s chat in the comments.
I am thinking of my (tiny) studio apartment and trying to hold onto the positives. It is safe, in a very well-maintained building, in a great town, rent is very reasonable and it is my own private little nest. I work to let go of envying those in fancier and bigger apartments ( I don’t have house envy, city girl that I am).
I want to say I’m winning this one but I’m currently living with massive envy in my life. It bubbles up from my gut and grabs at my face with it’s blob-ey gross arms and I fight it daily. Like serious fist fights. My brother in law and his girlfriend have just bought a beautiful home and are renovating it to look just like a home and garden magazine feature. They’re younger than we are and I find it is so difficult to celebrate their successes without making comparisons to my own stunted and stumbly path. I find my envy is motivating. It forces me to get creative and imagine / plan my way toward my goals. And I don’t wish them any ill. I wish myself just as well as they are. So maybe instead of focusing on the simple things to rid my life of envy, I’ve simplified my envy so that it only gets to play one role for me, and that role is positive.