Top 5 Most Important Lessons I Learned from Minimalism
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
I have an announcement to make. I'm sure everyone knew it was coming. I've hinted at this for a while now, and I think it's time I finally just come out and say it...
I am a minimalist.
Over the past few months, I've been making myself more and more familiar with the term "minimalism." I've been intrigued by the concept ever since I first heard of it, and the more I looked at it, the more sense it made.
I know that some people don't get it. Some people don't understand what minimalism really means, the reason I'm so passionate about it, how it applies to "real life," or why it's important at all.
So today, I want to share with you just a few of the things I've learned about and because of minimalism.
Top 5 Most Important Lessons I Learned from Minimalism
1. Less stuff means less stress. I quickly figured out that the less clutter there was taking up space in my room, the less clutter I had taking up space in my head. The less clutter there is, the less brain-power that's preoccupied by dealing with it. Owning fewer clothes means less pressure when getting dressed. Owning fewer things means less to keep clean.
2. More of a good thing isn't always better. Our society seems to have fallen prey to the idea that if one thing is good, two of them is twice as good. I would say that, in most cases, one is probably quite enough. Think of it this way: taking an iron supplement can be good for you, so one might suspect that getting twice as much is twice as good. Except most of us have heard of iron-overdose... Probably everyone has eaten too much cake at one point, too.
3. Minimalism doesn't mean we have to get rid of everything. Minimalism isn't about just chucking everything out the door. It's about populating our lives with things and people who add value instead of with meaningless junk that's just taking up space. "Minimalism is living with what you NEED and what you LOVE. That's it." [Unknown]
4. A gift is only a gift until it becomes a burden. Gift-giving is thoroughly embedded in our culture as one of the "proper" ways to show affection and/or admiration, but there is a certain amount of pressure that comes with being on the receiving end of a gift: what happens if I don't want it? Many of us simply decide to hold onto whatever the gift was because, "They were thinking of me!" But a gift is only a gift until it becomes a burden... If we're holding onto something we neither want nor need simply because it was a gift, it's probably time to let it go.
5. The less you believe you need, the richer you become. If you could only take away one thing from this blog post, this is what it should be. One of the most important lessons I've learned through minimalism is the art of being content. Wealth is inherently defined by what we think we need. When we choose to "need" less, we open ourselves up to recognizing how much we already have.
I guess this is all to say that I do believe minimalism can be for everyone. It's not a one-size-fits-all regime that dictates the way one lives their life. It's simply a lens through which we can choose to view everything else...
If you're interested in reading more about minimalism, I have written several posts about it, and you can browse through those over here. I also recommend checking out Becoming Minimalist, The Minimalists, and Be More With Less.
...
What is one misconception you've had or heard about minimalism? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, over at my Facebook page, or you can email it to me at anastasiarosewrites[@]gmail[.]com!
...
101 Things: Counting Down
Well, I still haven't bought the paper for my cranes. Am I starting to panic about making 1,000 paper cranes in a year? Maybe just a little bit... But at least I've gotten the ball rolling for #7- Shoot a gun.
I am a minimalist.
Over the past few months, I've been making myself more and more familiar with the term "minimalism." I've been intrigued by the concept ever since I first heard of it, and the more I looked at it, the more sense it made.
I know that some people don't get it. Some people don't understand what minimalism really means, the reason I'm so passionate about it, how it applies to "real life," or why it's important at all.
So today, I want to share with you just a few of the things I've learned about and because of minimalism.
Top 5 Most Important Lessons I Learned from Minimalism
1. Less stuff means less stress. I quickly figured out that the less clutter there was taking up space in my room, the less clutter I had taking up space in my head. The less clutter there is, the less brain-power that's preoccupied by dealing with it. Owning fewer clothes means less pressure when getting dressed. Owning fewer things means less to keep clean.
2. More of a good thing isn't always better. Our society seems to have fallen prey to the idea that if one thing is good, two of them is twice as good. I would say that, in most cases, one is probably quite enough. Think of it this way: taking an iron supplement can be good for you, so one might suspect that getting twice as much is twice as good. Except most of us have heard of iron-overdose... Probably everyone has eaten too much cake at one point, too.
3. Minimalism doesn't mean we have to get rid of everything. Minimalism isn't about just chucking everything out the door. It's about populating our lives with things and people who add value instead of with meaningless junk that's just taking up space. "Minimalism is living with what you NEED and what you LOVE. That's it." [Unknown]
4. A gift is only a gift until it becomes a burden. Gift-giving is thoroughly embedded in our culture as one of the "proper" ways to show affection and/or admiration, but there is a certain amount of pressure that comes with being on the receiving end of a gift: what happens if I don't want it? Many of us simply decide to hold onto whatever the gift was because, "They were thinking of me!" But a gift is only a gift until it becomes a burden... If we're holding onto something we neither want nor need simply because it was a gift, it's probably time to let it go.
5. The less you believe you need, the richer you become. If you could only take away one thing from this blog post, this is what it should be. One of the most important lessons I've learned through minimalism is the art of being content. Wealth is inherently defined by what we think we need. When we choose to "need" less, we open ourselves up to recognizing how much we already have.
I guess this is all to say that I do believe minimalism can be for everyone. It's not a one-size-fits-all regime that dictates the way one lives their life. It's simply a lens through which we can choose to view everything else...
If you're interested in reading more about minimalism, I have written several posts about it, and you can browse through those over here. I also recommend checking out Becoming Minimalist, The Minimalists, and Be More With Less.
...
What is one misconception you've had or heard about minimalism? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, over at my Facebook page, or you can email it to me at anastasiarosewrites[@]gmail[.]com!
...
101 Things: Counting Down
Well, I still haven't bought the paper for my cranes. Am I starting to panic about making 1,000 paper cranes in a year? Maybe just a little bit... But at least I've gotten the ball rolling for #7- Shoot a gun.
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