Simplify

By Kathy Lipscomb

            I didn’t realize that when I did my “Breaks are Good” blog that I’d be taking a break from this blog as well (sorry!). Life happens to a lot of us, and it certainly happened to me over the last month. Then I got to hear our wonderful prophet and apostles speak at general conference, and one talk stood out to me more than the others. President Uchtdorf’s talk asked us to simplify.

            We all have so much to do in this life, and it can be overwhelming. As members of the church, we often have callings that take up at least a few hours a week. As sisters (or brethren) in Zion, we serve the members of our community who are struggling. As parents we take care of our kids in all aspects: spiritually, physically, mentally, and their knowledge (That’s a lot of responsibility just in that aspect of our lives). We also have duties or just desires to help our other family members and our friends. There are daily goals: scriptures, journal, exercise, write, critique, clean, and maybe even blog. Then throw in holidays, birthdays, vacations, work stuff, our own goals…

            The list can go on forever.

            President’s Uchtdorf’s plea for us to simplify does not mean to take away all the good things in life. All of the above listed are great things. But we can simplify by not putting extra stress on our shoulders. We need to do what we can when we can.

            It’s okay if there are times we can’t.

            I’ve been in the middle of this mess, thinking I’d failed at my house, at my writing, at being a mom all around. I was upset with myself.

            Then I heard the call to simplify. And as if that weren’t enough, my sweet six month old daughter, snuggled in my arms, reached up and touched my face. I let go of all the stress, of all the things I need to do, and focused on her. Focused on the moment.

            Maybe simplify isn’t just for all the things in our life that need to be done. Maybe it’s a state of mind. When we stress about everything, we can’t focus on the now. We can’t seem to see what we’ve accomplished. We miss out on the happy parts of life.

            I’ve made a goal to do all the things I need to do, but to tackle them one at a time. To take in the moments. To not get mad at myself when I don’t get things done as quickly as I want.

            I’m going to snuggle my daughter, sing primary songs to her, and giggle with her. I’m going to pretend I’m a dinosaur with my toddler and chase him around the kitchen.
            I’m going to simplify.