Gentle Self by Denise Marron

A personal reflection on ten years of simple living — from digital overwhelm to intentional living and how simplicity became a way of life.   Ten years of simplicity have led me here,   to a path of clarity and quiet transformation. Looking Back: Ten Years of Intentional Living So here we are — this month of January 2026 marks 10 years since I began my simple living journey back in January 2016, at age 46. Now I am 56, looking back on a whole era shaped by intentional living, courage and quiet transformation. My simple living journ ey didn’t come from minimalism‑as‑a‑trend. It came from something deeper: a desire to live with clarity, gentleness and emotional honesty. I have spent a decade refining my space, my routines, my relationships and my inner world — not to make life smaller, b ut to make it truer.   When I look back at the woman I was in 2016 — overwhelmed, carrying too much (physically and emotionally), trying to find her footing — I can see how far I have come....

Reflecting on ten years of choosing a Word of the Year and the story these words quietly tell across the seasons of my life...       How This Ritual Began   I never set out to choose a Word of the Year; the practice began almost by accident. Grow in 2017 was the first word I officially chose. Only later did I  look back at 2016  and realise it had been such a year of clearing out, paring back, and making space that Simplify fit it perfectly. From there, choosing a word each year became a natural rhythm — one word at a time, one year at a time.   What began unintentionally has beco me a quiet way of marking the seasons of my life. Some words guided me. Some simply named what the year became. And some were  overtaken by life  entirely. But together, these words trace a quiet arc—from  simplifying and grounding , through loss and stillness and into renewal, blooming and  forward movement —they reveal a decade of change, loss, renewal, ...