The Simplified Year

The Simplified Year

The Simplified Year Rhythm

April Part 4 - Projects & Your Fantasy Self

Week Four

Bri Hosack's avatar
Bri Hosack
May 07, 2025
∙ Paid

This week is rich with opportunities to gently but honestly untangle identity clutter, unfinished projects, and the versions of ourselves we thought we’d be by now.

She was going to be a scrapbooker, a jewelry maker, a course creator, a homeschool Pinterest mom, a journaling queen… and now she’s just tired.

I freaking LOVE a project. …I love to start them, that is.

I love to get the supplies & learn all the things, and for a while, I love to actually work on the project.

And then this phenomenon happens... I lose interest! And no matter what I do, I cannot seem to motivate myself to complete a project I've lost interest in. I have to either wait for the next time I'm interested (could be years), or give it up completely.

Sometimes I don't even make it to implementing any of it. I have purchased supplies I never ever ever used, because I thought it would be so fantastically fun, but it turns out… only my fantasy self loves doing that (i.e. quilting, knitting, and so on...)

Common ADHD problem…

It was really hard when I first had to tackle my fantasy self and convince myself that she was never going to do the thing.

There was a lot of overthinking and debating when trying to let go of the supplies... and it was all very tied into lack mentality as well; that 'what if I want to do it again someday' and all the money I had put into it... not easy!

Even the ones I had no desire to finish… I was somehow seemingly inextricably attached to the unfinished projects!

I will say, after almost a decade of decluttering and simplifying… I resist the shiny object syndrome until I’m sure it’s something I’m willing to put the time, money, and effort into, to take it to completion.

From digital courses to craft supplies, I have somehow gained self-awareness, time-awareness, money-awareness, and discretion 😂.

Now I get to not feel guilty all the time.

Welcome to the final week of April’s Office + Storage Room rhythm.

The last week of every month in this rhythm is usually either the hardest because you’ll have developed the decluttering ‘muscles’ needed by the time you get there, or the easiest because I’ve asked a lot the rest of the month.

This one is one of the hardest ones of all. If it’s your first go round and you don’t manage it, it’s okay. I’m not trying to give you a pass not to try, but this is your permission slip to move on if you aren’t ready.

This week is where the deeper stuff lives: the projects you keep saying you’ll finish and the identities you thought you’d become, someday.

Just remember, it’s not about failure. It’s about choosing a simpler life.

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© 2025 Brianna Hosack/Beaumier
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