5 Things I Learnt From Minimalism

When I started looking into minimalism about 7 years ago, I thought it was about owning 1 pair of jeans, 2 pairs of shoes and getting rid of all the clothes that you haven’t worn in the past 12 months. I studied capsule wardrobes and looked into mine with confusion on how I could make mine work.

I’ve consumed podcasts, KonMari-ed my way through my wardrobe (not very well because everything seems to spark joy) and read books.

But I’ve gotten to the point where I finally understand.

Photo by Sarah Brown on Unsplash

As the years went on, it went from wanting to be a minimalist to now wanting to live that lifestyle. Not just simply to walk into a very neat and tidy home, but to think about consumption as a whole and not just limited to clothes. And then it took me down the path of what makes me happy in life?

  1. Minimalism doesn’t mean owning less of everything

    I use to think that it was about quantitating items. Much like capsule wardrobes, there was a magic formula and guide about how much you should have. 5 shirts, 2 pair of jeans and 3 pairs of shoes. It quickly became clear that this is not the case.

    With anything in life, it needs to work for your life.

    If you’re out on your feet at work everyday, maybe you need more comfy every day shoes compared to someone who isn’t. Maybe owning many colourful socks makes you really happy. Maybe having a wardrobe of only black and white doesn’t speak to you.

    Minimalism can be applied to people (lols), time, ideas, food etc. It’s about peeling away all the excess that doesn’t make your life better and maybe even makes your life worse.

    Minimalism can be tailored for all of our different circumstances and should be.

  2. Minimalism will last if there is a change in value

    Perhaps you just wanted a more functional wardrobe or more time but there is a value change behind this.

    Why do you want a more functional wardrobe or more time?

    By asking yourself ‘why’, you’ll be able to get down to the real motivation and reason behind why you want to do something. This will show you how important you want this change to occur in your life because now, you have a few reasons on why making this change in your life might be beneficial.

    To make these changes, you need new habits and habits are more likely to stick and be easier to keep if there is a value change behind your decision making. This is why you need to identify the “why/s”.

    It could be as simple as wanting to be a better consumer. Whatever your reason for making a change in your life, back it up with reasons why you want to make a change.

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

3. Minimalism is a tool to free up your life

Less things means less time cleaning, worrying, obsessing, maintaining and having to declutter. It’s setting the boundaries that you want to or didn’t know you needed it to. It can also mean having more fresh space, air, good vibes, calm vibes and/or both good and calm vibes.

It means that you will have more time to do other things that are more meaningful (or not) but having less means having more of your life back.

4. Minimalism can change your relationship with life

This point relates to the previous point. Once you have got rid of the excess of your life, it’s time to re-evaulate.

It’s time to fill it with activities that you love but didn’t have time for.

It’s time to spend more time with those that you care about.

It’s time to go back to basics and daydream, exercise and look after yourself.

5. Things last for a long time (really long time)

How long did you take to wear out a t-shirt or jeans? When was the last time you unsubscribed from all the marketing emails? Out of all the people on your phone, how many do you regular contact?

When left untouched and un-noticed, things just sit there. For years. Collecting dust, using up valuable space or creating clutter in real life and mentally. Minimalism allowed me to become more active in my life and begin to notice how long things actually last for. This feeds a loop of not wanting more of anything because I like what I have and appreciate what I have. I want to take more care in bringing in new items otherwise they just add to the stuff that will sit there for years.

Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash

Have you embraced or thought about minimalism? Is it a lifestyle that is attractive to you?

27 thoughts on “5 Things I Learnt From Minimalism

  1. Interesting. Thinking about it I probably adopt this way of thinking with what I don’t like much (i.e. shoes) but less with what I like more (i.e. books). That shouldn’t qualify me as a minimalist 🙂

    1. I think it still does. It’s just being more intentional about your life. I feel like things I use often I usually get carried away with buying more of. I’ve had to stop with books- I can’t possible own all the books I want to read.

  2. Thanks for the new minimalism description. I’ve found that authors who tell me I can only have 33 articles of clothing plus socks and underwear to be a bit proscriptive. I am better able to let go articles that I don’t use or no longer thrill me. That is my version. 🙂

  3. Minimalism definitely applies to people, haha! Especially toxic ones…I recently had to break from someone whom I’d considered a friend for almost seven years as they were adding more anxiety and negativity than happiness to my life. Minimalism doesn’t just apply to clothes or food, but also intangible things, like friendships and relationships!

  4. Love this post! I’ve started off on my minimalism journey from last year and it has been a little difficult since I already have TOO many things but it feels good to not add to more to it. And truly – it frees up so much time! I used to spend hours deciding what to wear to work, now with my minimalized wardrobe it takes me less than 5 minutes to pick.

  5. Very interesting! I have thought about minimalism many times, but I got to the point where I realised that it wasn’t really for me – or at least not for every area of my life (like clothes). However, something that I really want to look into is “digital minimalism”, and basically spending less time in front of my screen and having so many apps and accounts everywhere!

  6. stoicstrengthcoach

    Great post on minimalism, and I do think peoples mindsets on it is changing from having less stuff to more life. I think people like the minimalists and matt D’Avella helped this.

      1. stoicstrengthcoach

        aw same for me too It has made life so clear as it highlights what is important and whats not

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