Focus

Photo taken at: Stroud, Gloucestershire

Moving house last year really made me think a lot about Minimalism. Its something I think lots of is are considering – particularly at this time of year. It’s easy to see and think about the physical clutter. Of having too much ‘stuff’, and I think lots of us are trying to adopt a more considered approach to this; Of objects ‘sparking joy’, of the footprint we leave behind us, of buying once and buying well.

But taking the idea a bit further, thinking about minimalism in the sense of reducing the mental clutter; of having too many tasks, too many obligations, of concerning myself with things that aren’t all that important in the grand scheme of things. I don’t wish to generalise, (I will anyway!) but I think it is a particularly female thing to carry this mental load, and to be thinking about a lot of very disparate things all at once. To simultaneously be thinking about work, what’s for dinner and therefore whats in the food cupboards, letting the dog out, what the theme for next weeks dress down day is, when was the last time we went to the dentist, where is my passport (where IS my passport?!) how many followers you have on Instagram, how many followers someone else has on Instagram … you get the idea. All of this noise is exhausting
When you start to think about reducing this noise, what you are really doing is starting to focus on what really matters. And when you do this, hopefully (most of) what’s left behind is the important things

Of course everyone has different goals, values and ideals. We all have a different Focus on what matters most, so here’s an idea on how to think about focussing on what matters to you;

1. Write down your goals (work life etc)
2. Write down the things you love doing
3. Work out ways to reduce/cut out the things that aren’t unavoidable and don’t help towards 1 and 2

It doesn’t have to be an extreme or drastic change, but more a gradual and considered approach to the things you do.
And if you’re wondering why I’m talking about this or what on earth this has to do with an embroidery of an eye, my word for 2020 is focus.