Get off the ‘control’ wagon

February 3, 2016 by vittoriabalfour 2 Comments

In 1999, I entered a stage in my life that didn’t take me long to learn that my efforts to be perfect at everything in my life – wife, loyal employee, mother, sister, daughter, friend – were not healthy. In fact, it left me feeling fatigued, stressed, anxious, unhappy and tired all of the time! Realizing that this was not how I wanted to live the rest of my life, I knew I needed to make changes. Everything finally started to change when I committed to myself that I would live my life simple.

And so the pursuit of keep life simple started for me when I finally got off the ‘control’ wagon. I realized that all the ups and downs in my past really stemmed from my need to control everything in my life and take care of everyone else’s needs but mine. I made the choice to let ‘control’ go, and it was then when I saw the most dramatic and beautiful changes in my life in general. My transformation didn’t happen overnight (and I’m not even close to finished), but the more that I sought clarity in this area, the more free I became. I truly believe that when you embrace yourself and are honest with yourself (about everything) you suddenly come to a place where you stop worrying or being anxious and you finally have peace.

I also realized that everything in life comes down to a balance (for me it’s spiritual and physical). For example, a very dear and old friend of mine gave me a gift that spoke to me on levels I knew existed but never practiced. She gave me a daily devotional book and when I read the passage on March 12, it spoke to me loud and clear… live your life simple¹… which I had committed to doing already. An affirmation! I knew that although I uttered these words daily now and I was reading them out loud, it also meant I needed to continue to put action to these words. I have to admit, it isn’t an easy process to keep life simple, but in the end, it’s always worth it.

The more you start to embrace yourself and let up on areas of your life that you feel you need to control, the more freedom and joy you will find.

¹A.J. Russell, God Calling, March 12 entry – Simplicity, Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, OH

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