About a year and a half ago I started my journey towards minimalism and keeping things simple. Starting with my room, I sold a lot of things that were in it, like an old CRT TV and shelf it was on, old sewing machine, got rid of carpet and some other smaller things were removed. This led my room to contain only a couch/bed, desk and chair, and a wardrobe cabinet.
Something that I noticed is that I got less stressed about stuff in my room. So I kept going, I started cleaning my clothes. Again, less stress was at the end, and the process was enjoyable. All of that didn’t happen in one day of course. It took months to get rid of everything that I really don’t need, and I’m still getting rid of things. I started implementing some habits that stick to this day, like making the bed and better hygiene. Before that I really made the bed only when somebody was coming over, which was rare occasion.
About two years ago I started working, and so far, I got the essential things that I need, so now I’m not spending that much. A week ago I asked myself two questions:
- What are the essential things that I need for the work which I currently don’t have?
- What are the essential things that I need for day-to-day life which I currently don’t have?
Basically, the same questions for two areas of my life. I answered with things I already have, meaning that I have everything I need.
Over time, I started looking at physical things from different perspective. I look for things that have a purpose for my life, a functionality, and it should be something that I really need. This made me wonder when in shop, do I need to buy that item, does it have functionality even if it’s something interesting/cool/nice looking…
This minimalist way of living will give you more time to focus on few important things in your life.
Something that we should focus on is our health (eating, exercising, sleeping), mind (reading, meditation, conversations), and the essential things - the place we live in, the food we eat, the water we drink, the bed we’re sleeping at, the things we do in our day-to-day lives…
Quote from the book “The 5AM club” by Robin Sharma:
Collect Miraculous Experiences over Material Things.
As a child, your instinct showed you how to spot the miraculousness of a snowflake, find fortune in a spider’s web and adore the splendor of falling leaves on a colorful autumn morning. The pursuit wasn’t about acquiring things. It was about exploring life.
We should travel more, explore more, enjoy more. We should simplify things and get rid of our need for complexity.
As Greg McKeown, author of book Essentialism, says:
We are in undisciplined pursuit of more, the antidote to that problem is the disciplined pursuit of less, but better.
Getting rid of a lot of things (and people) that rob our time with something that isn’t essential will give you time to focus on few things that are essential.
For me, becoming a minimalist is a habit I’ve made, and a lifestyle I will continue to practice.
Resources
Since I’m kinda new to writing, and to minimalism itself, I wrote down people and books that taught me more about minimalism:
People:
- The Minimalists - Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus (official, youtube)
- Matt D’Avella (official, youtube)
- Marie Kondo (official, youtube)
Books: