How Minimalism Has Changed My Life

Call it minimalism, or essentialism, whatever rows your boat. The increasing community of minimalists is educating the world on the positive impacts of minimizing your belongings and thinking, and sometime last year the ideologies behind it started to attract me as well. I had started to notice myself getting tired of shopping in stores that would always be offering the same kind of stuff wherever I went. I was starting to loathe skincare and applying makeup; I travel to my hometown for six and a half hours on a train quite often in a year, and all of the heavy plastic bottles I was dragging along with me to “keep my appearance on check” were doing all sorts of indescribable things to my mental health. Besides, I noticed myself getting anxious over emptying bottles and clothes that did not excite me anymore, because I felt like tomorrow, I should go get something else all over again. And that kind of lifestyle was not sustainable for me at all.

Little did I know that was not the truth I had to live.

Here are just a few positive outcomes I have noticed in my life after starting to aim to live with less;

Minimalism is about keeping the things that bring value and happiness in your life.

I, like many others, avoided minimalism and talking about it for quite a while because it sounds quite extreme. Does it mean I have to give up everything I own and go live in the mountains without internet access? Do I have to eat my food without salt? Of course, this is not the case. There are minimalists on all walks of life, and some do not even call themselves minimalists. Some own more things and some nothing at all, but the idea of keeping only things that you love and put into use applies to all of them. In practice, this means that I can happily buy a book if I love it and read it multiple times a year. I’ve learned that minimalism is more about embracing than restricting. It is about purchasing and owning things with intention, and not just because everybody else owns them or society’s standards. And letting go of the things that are making you miserable.

I am not my routines or belongings.

When I first approached minimalism, I thought I could never downsize my beauty routines. I had always loved putting on perfume and skin lotions, but as I said earlier, I started to dread doing everything every morning and night. I realized that I was doing some things just because everybody else did them too, and because it was what I had been used to doing. So, the process of downsizing began. Now, after a while, I’ve noticed that my life has become better the less I spend in front of the mirror. I love putting on some lipstick and a responsible perfume that smells like a garden, but the routine has become more precious since starting to do it less often. I took time away from the routines I did not enjoy, and freed time for myself to do something I love.

It can be applied on all areas of life.

It also turns out the ideas behind minimalism and my perspectives on life go hand in hand. Doing less of the things that make us anxious and miserable, doing more things that make us happy and hopeful. Since stopping mindless shopping and always searching for a thing to fill a void that existed within me, I understood I was treating many of my problems with material things. Now, after embracing minimalism, I can safely say that because of the self-reflection I had to face because of it, I have learned to use my hours within the things I actually love and care about. My studies, reading books, spending time with the people I love, as well as traveling and writing, are all something I once did not know how to explore properly with the little time I had.

Now, it has become clear to me that we have all the time we need in life, as long as we learn how to use it with aim, intention, and love.

Always with love,

Laura.