When you hear the word ‘Minimalism‘ I’m sure most of us think of those with no kids and close to no stuff. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth, regardless of what social media may portray. Minimalism is being intentional with how you’re living. It’s the concept of simple living. It can mean a multitude of things to different people, which is one of the reasons I greatly enjoy minimalism. It’s a personalized journey for each individual and it doesn’t look the same for any two people.
What Is Minimalism for You
In becoming more interested in minimalism and reading an endless amount of blogs, comments, and experiences, I found that minimalism is usually one of two extremes. Either the focus is more on physical things, extreme decluttering, and living with less. Or, the focus is more on the mindset of minimalism and living with intention.
Both of these paths are amazing journeys and offer an endless amount of life-changing benefits. Given how individualized the journey of minimalism is, you may find yourself using a bit of both of these methods. You can even create a completely different path. The best part of minimalism is there’s no wrong way to do it!
When you start to go through things, whatever you decide your ‘clutter’ is, is usually going to be different than what someone else would consider their ‘clutter’. Whatever you choose to keep, will most likely be different than what someone else chooses to keep. This is the beauty of minimalism.
Start With What You Value Most
Simply put, minimalism is living with less clutter and distraction, and focusing on promoting the things we love. It starts with a clear understanding of what you value most in your life. It could be anything from your family or children to art, music, cooking, blogging, or more. Starting with your top values helps individualize your minimalistic journey and decipher what it’ll look like for you.
Prioritizing your values allows you to remove unnecessary distractions that get in the way of making these values come to fruition. What we value is unique to each of us, so anyone you ask ‘what is minimalism’, the definition will be different. That’s what makes this journey and experience so remarkable. Once you’ve determined your core values, it’s time to remove anything that doesn’t align, support, or help with those values.
It’s More Than ‘Stuff’
Now you’ve decided what your core values are. Whether you physically wrote them down or made a mental checklist. But, now what? It’s now time to declutter but it’s not just ‘stuff’ you’ll be decluttering. If you’ve decided your family or children are going to be one of your core values, it’s time to declutter your relationships. What friends or family members bring toxicity, negativity, distraction, or time away from those you’re trying to focus your time on?
Maybe one of your core values is to take in the present moment with self-care. This could be as simple as a cup of tea or coffee quietly in the morning, quiet moments of meditation, or even taking up home yoga. This would then mean it’s time to declutter whatever takes from those moments of mindfulness and self-care. Such as, having the TV on, mindlessly scrolling through your phone, or rushing through multiple tasks at once.
I know when I first started getting into minimalism, I started with the stuff. I went through my entire house, room by room. Anything I haven’t used in a year, I had a duplicate of or didn’t “spark joy” as Marie Kondo would say, I got rid of. In the beginning, I assumed minimalism simply meant living with fewer ‘things.’ Even though it felt great to have a clear space and less stuff, there was more I was needing that minimalism lead me to.
After months of decluttering and continuing to read about minimalism and others’ experiences with it, I realized it was a lifestyle and a mentality. It was more than decluttering my house, it was realizing and focusing on what my values were in life. After prioritizing what values were most important to me is when I started decluttering my mentality and lifestyle. This is when the real changes occurred. I soon realized I was going through most of my day mindlessly. I was giving my time and energy to those people, tasks, and ‘stuff’ that didn’t line up with what truly made me happy and what was important to me.
