Go a year with living without

Have you heard of the Year of Living Without Project? It’s something the author of Zen Habits is doing this year. I have heard of other bloggers taking this same task on before, too, but I really like how Leo outlined his project. I have been attempting to do themed activities each month as well: a daily fitness activity plus a monthly theme, ranging from being positive to not watching television. I’ve had mixed results depending upon the month, but I really like Leo’s idea of giving up things because it frees up your time, especially when you select things that you really don’t need in your life—or things you think you need when you don’t.

Another value of this project is that it allows you to change yourself without much effort. It takes a great deal of effort to not fall into old habits, to be sure—but you don’t have to, say, go on a lengthy retreat or a trip around the world or pay money on some costly procedure. Instead, you slowly implement positive, simple changes into your life one at a time.

And you don’t have to commit to these changes forever. You can just see what it feels like not having these things in your life and decide whether or not it has improved your life. Need some ideas? Visit the blog link above to see Leo’s (his range from coffee to sitting longer than 30 minutes, the latter of which I need to try myself soon). If you decide to take the challenge, tell us what you’re giving up and how it goes in the comments below.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia