My goal for 2021 is to live simply. This means focusing on the things which I value most and setting aside the things I don't.

My name is Ryan and I am an agorist. Today, we are talking about the importance of living simply.

2020 has been a crazy year. I am not sad to see it go. My goal for 2021 is to simplify. My motto for the year is "live simply." I just ordered some shirts from my buddy Cam which say the same. But, even more than wearing it, I want to live it.

Now, more than ever, we each need to think about what we value most in life. We have been reminded over the last year that government at any level is willing to take everything from us and are only waiting for the right excuse. If we want to best protect ourselves, we first need to identify that which we most value.

As I see it, living simply means living with clear goals and surrounding myself with what I most value. In our modern world, it is easy to surround ourselves with noise and stuff that we don't ultimately value. In fact, we can get so buried in that stuff that we completely lose sight of what we truly value.

I truly value nature, my family, my friends, my mind, and my creative ventures. To me, living simply means focusing on those. Sure, I might spend fifty or so hours a week trying to please clients and make enough money to live, but what's left is mine.

Since I value nature, I am going to make sure that I get enough time outside. Our new land is in the middle of the forest and endless adventures are right outside our front door. I am going to make the most of that, spending time out enjoying the sun and the fresh air, the smells and the beautiful silence. Nature is a wonderful contrast to the crazy world we read about online.

Since I value my family, I am going to make sure that I look them in the eye when I talk to them. I am going to make sure that the time I spend with my wife and children is time well spent. Time spent half-heartedly responding to them while looking at Twitter doesn't count.

Since I value friends I have been uninstalling social media apps that I don't use and turning off notifications that I don't want. I have made so many great friends online, but along with those friends I have also made many more connections which are good, but I don't necessarily need to flood my mind with everything that these other people post. I want to reduce the noise so that I can best focus on the people I care about.

Since I value my mind, I am going to continue reading daily. When I read the Bible and other good books, I feel refreshed. It's like mental stretches. That is a habit that I want to continue into 2021. On top of reading in general, I want to focus my time and energy on content that leaves me in a positive state of mind. This means reading less social media posts, less agenda-driven media posts, and overall being more intentional about what I fill my mind with.

Since I value my creative ventures, I am going to make sure that I set aside the time and energy necessary to do those. There is something incredibly therapeutic about creating things of value. This podcast--for example--has value to me. I enjoy doing it, regardless of how many listeners I have. This is a venture that I take part in for my own pleasure, and I am going to keep doing it for that reason. The same goes for my writing and other creative ventures.

I am not one for new year's resolutions. I am generally not one to grit my teeth and try and force myself to do things. The best path to a complicated life is to try and shape your life based on the arbitrary value scales of others.

I, meanwhile, want the opposite for myself this year. My goal is to live simply, to focus on what matters. The better I do that, the better my 2021 will be regardless of what else is going on in this crazy world.

This is TechnoAgorist, episode 48.