What could you live without?

What Could You Live Without? (Be Honest With Yourself)

It sounds simple, almost like one of those icebreaker questions people ask at awkward team-building sessions. But if you sit with it for a minute, really sit with it, it gets a little uncomfortable. Because when we’re not paying attention, life fills up with stuff. Physical stuff. Digital stuff. Emotional stuff. Routines. Habits. People. Notifications. Subscriptions. Clutter. Commitments. And suddenly, you wake up one day realizing your life is overflowing, but not necessarily with things that matter. I’ve been there. Still am sometimes.

I used to fall asleep with Netflix on, not because I was watching anything, but because I couldn’t stand the silence. Podcasts during my shower, music while I worked, and YouTube while I cooked. There was always noise. Then one day, my headphones broke, and I didn’t replace them right away. At first, it was uncomfortable. Like, “What do I do with this silence?” uncomfortable. But eventually, it felt like breathing clean air after being in a crowded room. I could think. Reflect. Just be. Now? I still love music and a good podcast, but I’m more intentional. I realized I was using noise to drown out my own thoughts. Turns out, they weren’t as scary as I thought.

Open your closet. Or that drawer in your kitchen. Or your email inbox.

How much of what’s in there are you actually using? How much are you holding onto out of habit, guilt, or just because it’s always been there?

I’m not about to preach minimalism (unless that’s your thing), but I do think there’s something powerful in the idea of making space. Not just physical space, but mental space too. For me, it started with clearing my phone of unused apps. Then I unsubscribed from about 80% of the newsletters I was deleting without reading. Slowly, I felt lighter and, curiously, more in control.

This one hit hard. At some point, I realized I was saying “yes” to things I didn’t even care about, projects, social plans, and social media posts, all because I wanted to be seen a certain way. Productive. Likeable. Creative. “Put together.” But here’s the truth: nobody’s paying as much attention as we think. And trying to keep up a version of ourselves for others? Exhausting. Living without that pressure, even a little bit, felt like exhaling for the first time in months.

Not in the dramatic, survivalist, “I could live without electricity and eat canned beans forever” kind of way. But in the real, this-is-my-daily-life kind of way.

Could you live without:

• Checking your phone first thing in the morning?
• That toxic friendship you’ve been “managing” for years?
• The pressure to do it all?
• That one thing in your apartment you keep moving around but never use?

It’s not about deprivation. It’s about clearing space for what actually matters.

Here’s the most beautiful thing I’ve learned: every time I let go of something I didn’t need, I made room for something better. Not always immediately. But eventually. Less stuff. More peace. Less pressure. More freedom. Less noise. More clarity.

So I’ll ask again, what could you live without? What’s something you could let go of today that might make you feel a little lighter, a little more you?

Whatever it is, try it. Even just for a week. You might be surprised by what you don’t miss. And who knows? You might just find yourself in the space that stuff used to take up.