Less Stuff. More Humanity.

How are you feeling after the holidays? Well-rested? Well-fed? Ready to face the year ahead? Overwhelmed by the stuff that made its way into your home over the Christmas season?

Me too.

In fact, probably a little too much of most things listed above.

The break was wonderful, the quiet, simple time with family was just what we needed, and the chance to unplug and unwind was golden. (That being said, if I owe you an email, you can expect it in the next 48 hours!)

But now the new year is upon us and my social media feeds are full of people spring cleaning, decluttering, planning and getting ready for the year ahead. It's such an energised time of year for many of us.

Similarly, it can be an overwhelming time. Often Christmas involves a huge exchange of gifts between family, friends, colleagues and teachers. Multiply that if you have children, as they will receive gifts from friends and classmates, not to mention grandparents, family and Saint Nick.

It is a wonderful time of the year, but the sheer volume of stuff can make your head spin.

That's why this year I'm embracing this as a guiding philosophy.

"We don't need more stuff; we need more humanity." 

Seth Godin - The Icarus Deception

Less stuff. More humanity.I love the simplicity of this advice. I love how it so easily sums up the beauty and the benefits of living with less. And while it could be read as a comment on the Western trend of ultra-consumerism and the impact that has on the developing world, it can just as readily be adopted into our small, daily lives.Having less stuff gives you the opportunity to focus more on the people in your life. More time, more energy, more care and more compassion. You can focus on experiences over things. Travel instead of trend-hopping. Memories instead of souvenirs.Over the past three years as I've slowly learned to pare back, find what's important and live (mostly) according to those priorities, life has become easier. Simpler. Sweeter.

• We have afternoon naps on the weekend.
• Cleaning up takes minutes, not hours or days.
• I spend less time dusting and organising.
• There is more time together on the weekends.
• We entertain more.
• Our horizons are expanding and we're travelling more as a family.
• I worry less.
• I compare our life with that of others far less.
• The overall feeling of life is that of contentment.

In other words, life is good.Not to say that living a simpler life makes things perfect. It doesn't.Our kids fight. We get things wrong - alot. We make poor spending choices.  We get impatient. There is still the annual influx of gifts at Christmas (although this is much less than it used to be, as we've slowly adjusted our families thinking on what and how much to give).Simplifying life just makes it easier to deal with this stuff. And to me, that is the single biggest benefit of living a simpler life - over time it just makes living life easier. The daily tasks, the constant stresses, the annual pressures - these things become easier to deal with when there is less stuff cluttering up your home and your head. The difficulty, I would say, is in getting to that point. How do you actually create that simpler life, when right now everything feels so insanely complicated?What do you want to achieve in 2014?