A blessed closet. That is what I have to remind myself that I have every day. I do have clothes to wear. Maybe not compared to some people, but more than plenty compared to the rest of the world. I don't understand why it has become such a chore for me {as it has for most women I know} to find something to wear. I find myself constantly taking far too long putting on one outfit then changing to another, then another, and before I know it it has been at least forty-five minutes, my entire closet is on my bed, and I will be late for a meeting. The absurdity has got to stop.

I suppose a quick fix would be to go to the nearest shopping mall or picking up the latest Anthropolgie catalog and starting all over again; throw out everything I currently own and buy an entirely new wardrobe. That option, however, completely ruins the whole "simple lifestyle" that I am trying to achieve. Also, I am a broke college student who just moved to Atlanta... I don't have the funds to spend who-knows-how-much on a new wardrobe. So then, what shall one do?

Well, to start, I am going to clean out my entire wardrobe. Not going through and completely dumping everything I own and starting over, but taking things out I do not wear much anymore and updating the pieces I already have. After that, I want to see about getting a few basic pieces that I will be able to wear with just about anything. I'm talking white tees {they are my favorite anyways}, a great pair of jeans, a good pair of boots, basic cardigans {no fluffy stuff here}, and the like. I am more of a classic gal than a "cutsey" one so it is not super hard for me to say no when wanting to buy things from boutiques {although, I did work in one at one point and certainly love the unique clothes they carried}.

Third, for something to make it on to my wish list, it is going to have to go through the spin cycle. Do I honestly need it? Can I afford it? If I can afford it, is it worth the money I spend on it or would that money be best spent elsewhere? Can I use it with at least three outfits? Is it good quality? Do I need to wait? You get the point.

Lastly, I'm just going to strive to stop focusing on what I need, what I want, etc., and focus on my Jesus. Clothes are not bad. I am not saying that at all nor hinting at it. What is "bad" is when my entire day shifts around what to wear, how to look more cute, adding 150 things to what I want to buy, spending an hour to decide what I want to wear, I need to stop focusing on what I do or do not have. The constant thought of "I want this" or "this is going on my Wish List Pinterest board" needs to end.

There we go. My rant of the day and first step towards minimizing materialism.

A year and a half later....

I'm back. Trying to balance too many blogs {each one having different reasons of existence}, on top of my social media, has left this poor blog unattended. But after spending the last few days cutting back on the number of accounts and blogs I have, I think I have managed being able to combine them into a total of two. Which lead me to renaming and refocusing this one.

It took some time trying to decide what the main theme of this blog should be {I am quite a visual person... you should see all my brainstorming scratch papers}. There were so many ideas coming to me and plenty of thoughts but nothing seemed to fit for what I wanted the main purpose to be. Driving around the city today it suddenly hit me: balance and simplicity. Ah. Light bulb. The two can go hand in hand. In this situation they do.

I feel as if my life is crazy. Well, actually it is. I am always trying to find the perfect balance; how to balance work, school, and relationships; how to balance giving my time to one project while giving it to five other; balancing family relationships and strengthening my {long distance} relationship with my dear man; making time to eat healthy, while being on the go all the time, while sticking to a good running and training schedule, while making appearances to schools and events, while managing all the above; the list goes on. But along with balancing life I am learning how to be simple and simplify my life; enough multiple blogs and social media  outlets {who am I kidding thinking I can run five blogs, two twitters, an instagram, a facebook profile, and two facebook pages on top of everything else I have?!}; enough going through my blessed closet and thinking I have "nothing to wear"; enough of this running around and being out of breath all the time; enough not seeing the beauty in the simplest of things; enough seeking how I can have more, more, more.

Through blogging of my adventures in the balance acts of life and the simplifying of materialistic thoughts, I hope to find that balance of placing God at the center of my life and to learn to seek less, not more, and finding my all in Him alone.

Here goes nothing.
Xoxo, Shelby.

Psalm 46:10 - "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"