I adopted the phrase “less, fewer, lighter, easier” as my theme or guide or mantra for the year.

Then I added better onto the end: less fewer lighter easier better.

LFLEB, for short.

I haven’t done a huge material purge or anything drastic. No one would enter my home and mistake me for a minimalist, which will be true as long as I’m actively raising four kids. (After that? We’ll see.)

Still, it’s been surprisingly helpful.

• I cleaned out my closet and instead of agonizing over the “maybe I’ll wear it/should I keep it” clothes, I just chanted LFLEB and tossed them in the donate pile. Guess what? Haven’t missed them. Getting dressed is simpler. Doing laundry is easier.
• I culled my online reading sources. I wasn’t keeping up, anyway. Dropped a dozen newsletter subscriptions. Took the news app off my phone. The world keeps turning. I still know about plenty of things.
• Took a realistic look at my calendar, my energy, and the relationships I can maintain. Did some hard thinking about the people who matter, which was surprisingly easy to figure out. The GARDEN/notes/Arena people stay with you through the shitty parts matter.
• Uncommitted myself from several out-dated commitments. Less. Fewer. Lighter. Easier.
• Closed out some projects that I’d been dragging, half-done, behind me. Less deadwight. Fewer obligations. A lighter load. An easier path.