What does Minimalism mean:
Minimalism doesn’t mean living off 5 things and not having anything. It just means freeing yourself, from unnecessary worldly goods.
So to embrace this way of life, we have to realize it doesn’t mean no stuff, it just means less stuff.
It is unrealistic for me to advise you to go live in a small empty trailer, with nothing. Yeah, that life is great for some people, but it is not for all of us.
Why is Minimalism important:
We as human beings have become hoarders. We have collected so many unnecessary things.
Now with the help of Amazon prime, we can at the click of a button order anything we want. What does that lead to, well just having more stuff that we don’t need.
If we feel low one day, what do we do? We go buy ourselves something unnecessary, to make ourselves feel better.
For immediate gratification, we are attaching ourselves to meaningless items.
These items we are buying are weighing us down. And that immediate gratification we feel just goes away, as quick as it came.
I had so many clothes. Clothes I never wore, I was just buying and buying more. They would not even fit in my closet. I didn’t even know where half of them were.
When I would move, I would just pack a bag and sometimes never open them. Because they were unnecessary items, I didn’t need. Don’t be like the old me, every time you move it’s a great excuse to clear out things.
I am not saying everything you own is unnecessary. There are things we need. We use those every day or at least sometimes in a year. Those are things we should keep.
But those things that we keep at the back of our closet or in a drawer and never touch, they should be the first to go.
We keep so many tokens but do we ever go back and see them? Keep items for memory purposes but keep a few or just less than 15 items, so you can look and them and appreciate them.
Minimalism is important, as it’s a way for us as humans to release ourselves, from our ties to things. It is a way to free ourselves.
This will allow us to enjoy the world, for what it is.
We don’t want to be bogged down. We fool ourselves into working extra overtime, thinking we will be able to buy that thing. Then we manage to get that thing. For a second it gives us gratification and then we want something else.
The constant we want this, we want that, is taking over our lives. At least it was taking over my life.
We aren’t being able to enjoy our current life because we are so involved in material things.
So how should you start working on your minimalism?
As always, I am going to tell you to start small. Don’t go throw everything you own. You will just end up buying it again.
Start with your clothes. For a month try and go without repeating an outfit and wear every item in your closet. If you weren’t willing to wear an item, it needs to go.
Now with the exception of clothes for weddings/special occasions, you should be wearing all your other items, all the time. Do this based on season, of course.
Then clear out your makeup and lotions. Expired makeup is unhealthy for you, so if you have had something for a few years, throw it out. That nail polish that has become thick and the mascara that has become clumpy needs to go.
So throw one item out a day. Enjoy a weight being lifted from your body. An accomplishment every day!
Buy clear organizers so you can see your items. This can be done for the junk we collect in the bathroom. Ikea has great separators. The irony of me telling you to buy things while getting rid of things is clear to me. But as I said before you need some items.
This can be done for your kitchen supply. That drawer with random things, clear it out!
Donate your items so you get the pleasure of giving. Helping someone out makes us happier than buying an item (yes, that may surprise you but try it out)
That gym equipment you haven’t used in years. Think about it, are you going to use it? We need to ask ourselves the tough questions.
Will we use this item within the year? Touch the item and imagine in the next year where will we use the item. Can’t think of a place or imagining yourself actually using it, donate it.
Next year try this same activity. If you didn’t use it within the previous year, the item needs to go.
Minimalism is not something we can accept overnight. We have to slowly let go of that attachment we have built over years.
Wrap Up
So embrace the simple life. We need to relearn how to live in a simpler way.
So what are you waiting for? Join me, and get rid of that one item out for today! And track yourself so you can be held accountable. Read the Pigeontalk blog on goals to achieve this.
Looking for other blogs to change your lifestyle check out my blog on journal writing.
