It's Time To Drop The Weight Resting On Your Shoulders - Minimalism Blog #1

In this first Blog about minimalism I want to take you through some basic principles of the concept as portrayed by others, and with my own points of view.

[Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-and-black-mattress-fronting-the-mountain-775219/]

Minimalism

When I first heard about minimalism I was a little skeptical because I don't like the 'isms' in general. It just seems radical to me to live your life by a strict set of rules. I was so happy to find out that minimalism doesn't restrain someone within a certain framework, it's more easily described as a pyramid in my opinion. An upside down pyramid for that.

I had noticed changes in my lifestyle that I really started to enjoy, and then I met a now long term friend who was totally into minimalism. It turned out that the things I had been doing in the past year would be described as minimising, I just hadn't heard of the term yet.

Concept

So as I said in my previous introduction post about minimalism, mostly people use the term when it comes to stuff, items, physical things, materialism basically. I like to expand the term minimalism to all aspects of my life. Therefore I would describe minimalism as follows:

"Minimalism is the action of focussing attention on things that matter, whilst letting go of things of less importance to you".

With the description above we are no longer just talking about physical things, stuff. We are now talking about all facets of life.

Challenge

In this series I want to give you a step by step guide to start discovering what truly matters to you, and what you are currently wasting time, space or energy on.

Let's take it easy. Today all I want you to do is:

• Find 5 items in your home that you haven't used in the past 12 months, and won't be using in the next 12 months.
• Find 2 items that you are still using, but can easily be replaced with other items in your home.
• Get rid of these things (don't throw them out, give them to a second hand shop or charity, or maybe friends and family).

So for instance, you may never be wearing a certain t-shirt anymore, you can get rid of that. Or you may have one of these egg cutters which you do actually use, however a knife will cut an egg just as fine so that is an item you can easily replace.

The reason it makes you feel good is because you are letting go of things that serve you no purpose, and are therefore just holding you back. When you have to pick your clothes in the morning, having to run through 8 items you are not gonna wear anyway is just slowing down your decision making process, getting rid of an item or 2 makes it easier to pick your look for the day!

So get rid of 7 items this week and I will see you back on Tuesday!

Top Tip

One of the most common reasons people have trouble letting go of stuff is the symbolic or nostalgic value they attach to the item. Though it will take some time to get used to this, taking photographs or your items before you get rid of them can help immensely.

I have taken photographs of old drawings and report cards, Christmas cards and birthday cards that are special to me, as well as a teddy bear. The nostalgic and symbolic value actually comes to me when I watch the picture, just as much as when I was holding the actual item, therefore storing a photo on my computer is helping me to get rid of so many things I would otherwise hold on to forever.