About fifteen years ago my husband Thom and I began using the word “rightsize” to describe the lifestyle that we started practicing. At the time, we felt a strong motivation to create  a more simple and minimal existence.  So that led us to taking the popular step that many people refer to as “downsizing.” We didn’t need such a big house and certainly didn’t need all the stuff that we had accumulated over the years. But rather than calling it downsizing (which implies sacrifice) we decided to call it “rightsizing”. Rather than a focus on giving up things, we took steps to eliminate everything that wasn’t adding joy and contentment to our lives. And naturally, it wasn’t just about getting rid of stuff we owned, it was mostly choosing to focus on the things that truly mattered to us. [Read more…]