How to Minimalism
By: Sai Oduri
Tags: Minimalism, Self Improvement, Happiness, Life

Improving the quality of your life by getting rid of “Clutter”

The idea of simple living has been around for thousands of years, but the modern minimalist movement only started around 2006. Minimalism started off with the benefits of decluttering and the idea of finding contentment if we focus on less.

Lately, what I’ve been trying to do is to eliminate everything unnecessary from my life. “Necessary for what?” you may ask. Necessary to live a happy life.

By removing things from our lives that don’t add value or bring joy, we can experience a lot of benefits. Like better financial security, reduced stress, it could help clarify our passions, and allow for more quality time with family and friends. However, you are the only person who can decide what’s worth keeping.

Now when you hear the word Minimalism, you probably imagine going to the extreme. Getting rid of everything you own until you’re left with a cloth, however, is simply not true.

If we don’t make decisions of what to keep, by default we will hold on to everything. The key is to not take it too far. If you get rid of things you truly enjoy, then you’re doing it wrong. Minimalism should never be about depriving yourself of the good things, the things that you love.

If you have issues with decluttering or don’t know where to start, don’t worry. Let’s go over how you can apply minimalism into your own life.

The Marie Kondo Method

I stumbled across a Netflix documentary a year ago called, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”. Her goal is to help people live a life that sparks joy by getting rid of unnecessary clutter.

The Marie Kondo Method is quite simple. First, put all your stuff into a pile. Then one by one, pick them up. If it sparks joy you keep it, otherwise, you throw it out. I would recommend this method for anyone who struggles with getting rid of stuff.

Personally, as I started to obtain more things, I realized I never really needed them. I was only purchasing it to impress other people. As GaryVee says, “Stop buying things you don’t need to impress people you don’t like”. After looking introspectively and understanding this, I started to reconstruct my values.

More than Material Things

Clutter doesn’t have to be physical objects. It could be anything that causes mental lag. If you look around you’ll see an abundance of options. Let’s take buying bread: there’s white, whole wheat, ancient grain, and the list goes on. If things were simpler, or there were fewer options, wouldn’t making decisions be quicker?

It starts with material things but it doesn’t end there. The biggest question you should ask yourself is “How much time are you spending on stuff you don’t really care about?”. If you don’t take the time to get clear on your values, someone else will decide them for you.

Conclusion

Adopting minimalism into my life has allowed me to focus on what’s important to me. I’ve seen major benefits in my own life and I’m sure you will too.

Whether you want to call yourself a minimalist or not, doesn’t matter. But I think that everyone can gain something from making more intentional decisions with how they live their lives. You can call it what you want but it really has to do with living a more meaningful life.