The Global Organisation for Stress says that over 80% of the work force constantly feels overwhelmed and stressed from work. Stress is also the number one health concern for high school students. The pursuit of “more” is one of the leading causes. Your pursuit of more can be a motivator to work hard and strive for success that can lead to increased self-esteem, personal satisfaction, financial stability to live more comfortably and provide for your family. However, your pursuit and constant desire for more can also have a negative impact leading to stress, anxiety, and burnout as you strive to achieve higher goals. It can leave you with a sense of emptiness and dissatisfaction when not achieved and does not lead to long-term happiness.
You must understand that your pursuit of more can lead to less—less physical, mental, emotional energy and inner wealth. You naturally fall off balance as you get bogged down by the needless weight of your chosen burden. You say you want peace, but your choice is chaos by seeking more of what you do not have rather than fully indulging and engaging in what you do. This results in a fragmented and conflicted focus that spreads you too thin. Even when stretched too thin, you continue searching for more things and people to pursue. You do this because you are not clear about what you want. You are in a continual search cycle for more believing it will lead to your stability, happiness, and peace, but you have not taken the time to know what happiness and peace mean to you.
The world is increasingly complex and conflicted. There can be nothing more calming to your soul than to simplify your small space within it. Do you really need more: clothes, side projects, job responsibility because you see others doing it, business and social connections versus leveraging the ones you have, friends/likes on social media, or memberships in clubs and groups. When I first became a business owner, I joined every association and group. Every event I worked to meet as many people as I could and collect business cards. My target client was everyone, so I went after everyone. I followed everyone I could on social media. The quantity became more important than the quality of my pursuits. While I was pursuing more, I was receiving less and feeling less than. I was not clear about what I wanted in my business. I had to stop and reassess what I wanted my business and life to be.
Marcus Aurelius, Philosopher, said “Most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you will have more time, and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?’” Reassess your pursuits and ask yourself that question. When you decide what is necessary, you must shed what you decided was not necessary. Think of shedding as necessary and a process of renewal versus removal. Things you can shed that consume your attention are:
Þ Emotional baggage, ego, pride, vanity, masks, and shells that do not serve you.
Þ High maintenance toxic relationships that drain your energy.
Þ Old and outgrown clothes and needless material things.
Þ Irrational need to be constantly busy to fill gaps and time.
Too much light blinds the eye; too much noise deafens the ear; too many spices dull the taste; too much exercise weakens the body; the pursuit of great riches leads to ruin.” Lao Tzu
When you shed what you do not need or does not serve you, you will have more clarity, energy, and time to do what matters and align to your short- and long-term goals. No one will value you or your time more than you. You must always choose you and learn to say “no” to negative distractions. But if you do not know your priorities, values, destination, or direction, you will not know what you should say no to. Be clear about the lifestyle you want, your values to live by, and the energy you want to expend and attract. Simplification drives your inner and outer tranquility creating inner peace, harmony, and grace. Only by doing so will you create more time and space to reflect and align action with intention. I decided to own my peace by simplifying my business but also my life by shedding what was not necessary for the life I wanted to lead. Owning your peace is a personal journey that takes time, and you must cultivate it through intention, focus, and practice. Do not just pursue more! Pursue what matters to you, what you desire, and what you deserve!
“Don’t lose your happiness over the pursuit of more.” Mike Stud
