If you are always stressed, distracted, and confused in life, overburdened with work, your physical and mental health is taking a toll. You are in the right direction, minimalism will free up space in your life, and value the things that matter to you. Minimalism will let you live life with a purpose and give back time for your family and those you care about.
Minimalism can potentially help in making you debt free, declutter, get you on track with what you aspire to be, get you out of a toxic relationship, and so on.
What is Minimalism?
Minimalism is a very philosophical process where you categorize your needs, wants, and desires. Minimalism doesn’t mean you start decluttering whatever you see in front of you, rather you invest time to inventory your stuff that can be illuminating and helpful. Being a minimalist is not about how many clothes I have, the square feet of my house or how many cars I own, instead, minimalism is about making rightful choices that add joy to life.
- Minimalism is about reducing distractions or obligations, so we create something incredible. Letting go gives you time for the things that bring you happiness, peace, and joy.
- Minimalism is about maximizing nonmaterial, precious experiences from a simple environment and uncluttered life.
To sum up, Minimalism is a method/process to get rid of the extras in life in favor of focusing on what’s important to us, what brings happiness, and freedom from stress, depression, or guilt.
For example, you always use your favorite or comfortable cloth, but still, there is extra lying in your wardrobe that you bought on sale or holding on to a gift someone dear gave you.
But as you know that you won’t wear it ever, why not sell it or donate to an NGO? This will give back your time and space.
Benefits of Minimalism
The constant pursuit of bigger and better is an endless cycle and in today’s time where we have so many distractions, it’s hard to live life in simple terms. But once we start believing in
“Less is more”, will give physical, emotional, and mental peace.
Minimalism can help us achieve:
- Clear off debts: With minimal and simple life you can pay off your study loan, car, or home loan soon and enjoy stress-free. Even, after a few years of minimal living you can see a good amount of money in your saving, emergency, retirement, and to-do list funds.
- Reclaim our time: Being a shopaholic took away a good amount of time, by checking out clothes online and hauling videos, searching for the best options, and then getting them delivered. That’s just one step to more time consumption as once it gets delivered, wearing each one and checking the ones to be returned, then packing in the wardrobe. That took away a lot of my time, being minimalists, we grow as an individual and invest time with purpose.
- Eliminate your discontent: When we become affluent or reasonably rich, we tend to become greedier, and selfish and nothing seems to fulfill our desires or nothing seems to satisfy us. Minimalism can rid us of excess stress and live in the moment.
How much money is sufficient for a shining car, lavish home, and gold? There is no answer to these, but it surely deteriorates mental and physical health, our relationships, and personal growth. - Less clutter: Clutter creates chaos in the mind. It surely opens more space when we get rid of the excess. Decluttering helps to display things we use, keeps our minds fresh and calm, and helps us focus to grow.
- Less stuff: Buying less stuff will create less waste/clutter. It will save us time to discover the purpose of our lives by getting indulged in what we love or pursuing our passion and embracing our creativity.
- Helps to focus on health
- Build relationships: Saving time helps you take out time for your loved ones.
- Help save the environment: Consumerism is killing us. Compulsive buying tends to produce more waste. We all know how plastic is harming the environment. This is a good cause to start minimalism for a better future.
Where to Start and How to Adopt?
If you’re wondering where to begin, these tips will help you get started in the minimalist lifestyle journey…
- Start decluttering. You can start by identifying what serves a purpose in your life and what doesn’t. Once you have the list, see how you can cut down on those areas. For example, if you have too many utensils that are not adding any value, why not group those and sell them? Decluttering might get messier during the process when you see things exploding in your room, but it will get easier when you organize the unwanted materials in a cartoon and start letting go of them.
- Buy with a purpose. If you are buying new, look for the quality, not quantity. Whether you are investing in jogging shoes or track pants. Look for quality that will last long. Be aware of what you are buying and why.
- Stop buying in rush. Prevent yourself from purchasing new things that will continue to clutter your home. Create some guiding rules that you can question yourself while buying new. Like will it serve any purpose or is there any alternative already available in my home, do I really need it now? Remember no one item can end your urge.
- Minimalist lifestyle is a regular process and involves maintenance.
- Knowing why you started your journey as a minimalist is important – There are distractions everywhere, and it’s hard to contain the excitement to buy new. But “knowing why” will help you from getting distracted by TV ads, and haul videos on YouTube.
- Invest in experience: Experience is more memorable than materials. Take trips or cooking classes, over buying new clothes or gadgets.
- Invest in Reusables: This will help the environment heal as you tend to reduce your consumption and reuse when possible. Single-use products like coffee cups, plastic spoons, rubber bands, and plastic bags bring home and reuse them.
- Invest carefully: If you are a bookworm, try checking out your local library or go digital. This will surely save space in your home. Cutting off meaningless expenses gradually will save you a lot of money.
Summary
In gist, people are treating minimalism as a trend, but don’t let that be, as trends come and go. We surely want simple and clutter-free living as a part of our lives. When you practice a minimalist mindset, you’re choosing to live a more focused and disciplined life. Taking the first steps to declutter your life is a big move, but you might need a game plan to make these habits stick. Start where you are now and put forward baby steps but sticking to it can be worthful by making you financially well settled and mentally and emotionally at peace.
Really a nice and helpful article