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I Made My Life Harder to Make It Simpler

Live like Liz

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I made my life harder to make it simpler. And strangely enough, it made everyday life feel a little more peaceful.

We've become so used to convenience that even the smallest inconveniences can feel like something we need to eliminate. But what if making everything easier isn't actually making our lives better?

In this video, I'm experimenting with bringing a little intentional friction back into my everyday life.

This isn't about romanticizing hard work or rejecting modern technology altogether. It's about discovering which conveniences genuinely improve our lives and which ones take something away from them.

Join me for some cozy countryside slow living, simple everyday rituals and a little reflection on what it really means to live a simpler life.

I'd love to know: What's one thing you deliberately do the harder way because it makes your life better?

🧡
Liz

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00:00 Things with edges
05:41 A beginning and an end
08:55 Grasping things
14:18 Natural limits
15:52 A visit
17:12 Buying stuff
18:52 Let's make life harder

#SlowLiving #SimpleLiving #IntentionalLiving #LowTechLiving #MindfulLiving #Cottagecore #AnalogLiving #SlowLife #SimpleLife #Minimalism #LiveLikeLiz

13 Comments

@livelikeliz Creator 12 hours ago Pinned

More videos like this:

✨My Realistic Low-Tech Setup That Actually Works: https://youtu.be/lnk0OS0bqOw

✨We were wrong about minimalism: https://youtu.be/U7R6gLal434

✨ Start your underconsumption journey: https://youtu.be/sO6McwkrAMY

✨ Your mindful consumption guide: https://youtu.be/9P1bkgy1GTw

✨ Is a simple life only for the wealthy? https://youtu.be/SVasp05Z9Ls

✨ 7 Steps for a simpler life: https://youtu.be/cRrbswCvnmQ

✨ How to start slow living: https://youtu.be/b-f9PhYDviI

✨ 8 simple living habits that will improve your life 🌱 https://youtu.be/BwH2hIZOQaU

@BreakingTheSystems 14 hours ago

"Poverty isn't a lack of money. It's a lack of options, a lack of time, a lack of peace & lack of everything."

@EnileReb 13 hours ago

I just discovered your channel today and I love your content!

A bit of friction I have introduced this year is sewing my own clothes. It takes way longer to sew something than to buy it. But buying clothing made me appreciate it less. Often it didn't fit me right, or it wasn't actually my style because I was influenced by trends. Making my own clothing both forces and enables me to really think about what I need and want in my clothes. And every piece I have made, even if not perfect, has come with a sense of pride and joy because I know the time and effort I put in it.

And now that I think about it, in my sewing itself I have also introduced more friction. Instead of sewing with an electric sewing machine, I have started to use my great-grandma's handturned sewing machine. It is way slower and can only stitch straight stitches, but it is just so calming and cosy to sew with it, while also reminding me of the generations before me. Feeling like I am actually part of a tradition going back more than 100 years. People have always been able to do great meaningful things without much convenience, and if you can embrace that it can make you so much more creative and resilient.

@berenike47 10 hours ago

Did you know, you are a philosopher and writer as well ? You did put the idea and the words so perfectly together... I admire it ❤😊

@mtnbiker14 9 hours ago

Renting a movie was a great experience. Time to browse. Sometimes I couldn't get a new release I hoped to get and landed on a hidden gem I'd never have noticed or considered otherwise. There was an appreciation that came with anticipation.

Even now getting access to all episodes of a season of a show at once is a sad experience compared to anticipating next week's episode on regular broadcast or cable TV.

@ManuelaChristina1 12 hours ago

I have made my life easy. The way i live simply, not wasting anything and be present in the moment. I have made some choices that mirrors the real me. I am a writer and writing my book in my own time. Maybe with little, basics but more enjoying my life. Make your own choices always and don't depend on no one. Thats my opinion as i live my life and i am grateful and happy with that. Like you dear Liz with your beautiful life and choices ❤ take care and enjoy 🎉

@onceinawhile7 7 hours ago

Great video essay!

@kafferavn 39 minutes ago

I live in the Norwegian countryside and my car needs to be checked officially before it can drive again legally. I do not like driving. That is a lot of friction, just as the price of many things 😅

@lovemadeinjapan 42 minutes ago

In Dutch it is grijpen vs begrijpen, isn't that the same in german, Griff und Begriff? So the be in front of it changes the meaning. Thinking of bring friction back into the classroom: going to buy a row of non connected PCs on Windows XP with classic tools like AutoCAD 2005, Freehand and PageMaker to learn what it is to make 3D objects, letters, nice fonts, page layouts from the mind instead of by ChatGPT.

@NiaRyn-ciel1889 14 hours ago

I got fired up about having CDs a few years ago. I have two CD players (one is on batteries, the other is a bigger one that rubs on a an outlet) and a few CDs. My friend also got me a DVD player. I'm against littering the environment, but mostly everything I got is second hand. Every time I listen to a CD, I make into a special thing because 1) I only have two or three that I really enjoy (the others are my mum's I guess) and I'm afraid I'll stop liking them if I listen to them too often, and 2) I can't just listen to a few songs and leave them because that wastes battery or electricity, so I prefer to listen through the whole thing. I still use Spotify, but listening to CDs is, honestly, more enjoyable, despite all the inconveniences I have.

@BreakingTheSystems 14 hours ago

We are suffering because we are in hell. Earth is just another layer of it.

This body feels less like a gift and more like a prison. A sentence we never agreed to, in a world that taught us to call our imprisonment life.

We are born, conditioned, exhausted, exploited, and buried. Farmed for our labor. Drained of our time. Fed distractions to keep us obedient. Then recycled into the same machinery that broke us.

And the cruelest part? We have been taught to love our chains.

Every single day, through my videos, I expose the machinery behind this manufactured existence. Most will never listen. Not because the truth is invisible, but because questioning the cage means questioning everything they have been taught to worship.

But some of you see beyond the illusion. You feel the weight of what others refuse to question. You know that simply surviving is not the same as living.

To those who see, question, and refuse to sleepwalk through this existence: I see you.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for questioning.

In a world that profits from our unconsciousness, may we never stop seeking the truth. 🖤