Finding Yourself Through Minimalism
Initially, I thought the idea of minimalism was ludicrous. It wasn’t whether or not I could live with less, it was more about why would I want to. If I have stuff, isn’t that a great thing? Besides, I had stereotyped minimalists into categories:
- Poor. If you can’t afford stuff it makes sense that you promote not having stuff
- Rich. You have the financial means to be eclectic and live an “odd” lifestyle
- Single, young, male who lives out of a backpack and tours the world
It took some research and a very high-stress level to realize minimalism is about you. It has no socioeconomic status, no age, no family size, no necessity to travel. Minimalism isn’t even about what you get rid of — how much you unload. It’s deciding what you love and keeping only that. I ended up feeling more guilt that I had accumulated so much than I did at getting rid of all of it. Even sentimental items weren’t overall difficult to let go of once I began to understand the feeling of lightness you get when you are no longer burdened by things. When you are unencumbered you can find yourself through minimalism.
Minimalism isn’t a “one and done” activity. It’s a constant evaluation of what you cherish in your life. Many minimalists set up “rules” (if you buy a shirt, you get rid of a shirt), but there really are no rules. What you value may change over time, things that once had a purpose or value no longer do, you’re environment changes, you realize you use items less than you originally thought or that something different would work better. Minimalism is a continuing journey of evaluating what you cherish and eliminating what you don’t. It’s determining what matters to you — what you use and what brings you joy.
One area I still find this the most striking is eliminating digitally. Creating the habit to unsubscribe every time I get an unwanted email and to “unfriend” everything that I don’t want to see really didn’t take more time, just a difference in the effort I was putting out. I love waking up with few to no emails and scrolling Facebook but only seeing what I want. Our kitchen has a lot less, but still a lot of conveniences. Since paring down and owning less, it’s much easier to see what we don’t use and eliminate it. It’s refreshing to walk into any room in our home and feel like we can breathe. We’ve learned a lot about who we are individually and as a family by going through everything we own and getting rid of what didn’t matter. The great and fun news is that we will never stop learning.
Originally published at https://www.momof18.com.
Jenn is Mom of 18, Transformational Coach for Christian women, host of At A Crossroads with The Naked Podcaster, Author, Runner, Minimalist, & Healthy Lifestyle Advocate
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