Last summer I developed an interest in the minimalist
lifestyle. It started with this documentary called Minimalism, which had been in my Netflix queue
for God knows how long.
Three minutes into the film I was like, “Yeah! Me too!”
Though in the back of my mind I knew I’d never be like the people I was
watching in their tiny house, or the guy who fits all his belongings into one
backpack, or the person with clean white walls throughout their home.
If anything, I am a natural hoarder, not a minimalist. But I have found that the enormous amount of
random stuff I own, as well as the amount of appointments I cram into my daily
schedule, can become overwhelming and stressful. So I wanted to give this a
try.
My cousin Christi had encouraged me to join her in her
pursuit of minimalism in the past. So after finishing the film I texted her,
and she quickly persuaded me to start on the 30-Day Minimalism Game. If any of
you are interested in getting on the minimalism train, this was an awesome way
to jump start the journey. Each day we ‘minimized’ the number of items in our
home that correlated with the day of the month. For fun and accountability, we
texted each other pictures of what we chose to part with that day.
My mom worried I would just get rid of all this stuff, then
go out and buy it all again when I was over it. A valid concern considering my
love of collecting stuff, and my past addiction of retail therapy! But I’ve
been doing this half a year now and haven’t looked back.
I’ve simplified my life by eliminated over 1,500 things so far.
For me, the key to doing this successfully is to keep the
“Why” at the forefront of my mind whenever I am sorting through my belongings,
or considering buying something at a store. During the first 30 days I listened
to a lot of podcasts, and focused on reading blogs and essays by different
minimalists.
I keep coming back to two ideas that keep me motivated to
continue this process:
If everything is
special, nothing is special. If everything is SO special that you need to
keep it, all these special things you have are just going to form a big mass you
don’t pay attention to, and items lose their value in the crowd of stuff.
When we try to juggle
everything, we can’t enjoy anything. I’m a huge multi-tasker and like to be
efficient with my time. I’ve found that I tend to cram as many events as I can
into one day, whether they are random responsibilities, or fun activities with
friends. When I look at my calendar on a given day and let out a big sigh as I
mentally go through all the potentially enjoyable things I “have” to do that
day, it’s pretty clear that something’s not working. Yes, I really want to do
all those things I had planned. But I also really want to ENJOY them….not see
them as tasks to accomplish on an exhausting checklist. So I have to make
choices. One idea I’ve read is that every time you say yes, you’re saying no to
something else. That “something else” might be taking care of responsibilities,
time focused on your kid, time with your closest friends, or maybe just
spending enough time at home to feel balanced. Truly unfortunately, there is
not enough time in life to do everything, and still stay balanced. I have to
keep fear-of-missing-out on the backburner, so I can fully enjoy what I DO say
yes to.
I’m including a photo of my bedroom, because I don’t want to
live under the guise of being a “purist” when it comes to minimalism. My room
still looks pretty full, my taste in décor is still eclectic, and I still have
a lot of stuff. But the amount I have been able to part with has truly created
more space to breath inside my head, which is a valuable thing.
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