Why am I a minimalist
I love simplicity. I’ve had stressful years before, times when I’ve reached the bottom and then found out it was not the bottom yet, there are even much deeper, darker places. It all happened to me, I’ve been disappointed again and again, life’s meaning was fading more and more away and one day I just couldn’t see any light again, any hope. Everything was too complicated for me to deal with so I’ve blanked, I couldn’t cope with problems anymore, couldn’t get out of my apartmenet, couldn’t think of the stuff I need to deal with or about future. It scared me shitless.
I love how minimalism makes everything really simple. It starts with the simple realization that I already have enough, like litterally enough of everything. I don’t need more, I just need to have the right things, the right relationships, and everything that’s broken and not functional, I don’t need to spend my energy on it. I don’t owe it to anyone. As egoistic as it sounds, I am the first thing I should be thinking of and when I find myself in a situation when I’m all broken and insecure, fuck everything, I just need to fix myself.
Forgive me the language but this is actually exactly how it started for me – I’ve read so much of inspiring stuff but nothing has ever helped me as much as this brilliant book and that brilliant idea. At that point I first allowed myself to embrace the thought of „I don’t need this shit“ and everything started to fall together at last.
I don’t need to spend my energy on unfunctional things, relationships or habits. I can allow myself to let go of everything that doesn’t make me happy, everything that’s even slightly a baggage to me. I have the perfect right to set myself free from those things, give them away, sell them if possible, pass them onto someone who will find them beautiful and useful, and I don’t need to be friends with everybody. I don’t have to keep all of my clothes for all my life, gosh, I can donate them to someone who will fit into them!
You can laugh but I’ve been brought up to the world where nothing gets thrown away, to believe that what I buy stays with me forever until it falls apart. I never knew I have the right to give it up before that, maybe just because it doesn’t fit me anymore? Because I stopped liking it? These are so legitimate reasons, people, stop beating yourself about gaining five kilos, stop trying to force yourself into those old jeans. Unless you got really fat, just buy new, bigger jeans. Size doesn’t matter, it just needs to fit you because nothing is more pathetic and sad than a chubby girl in size 8 which makes her butt fall out and show everything, while she could be perfectly hot in nice, fitting size 10 or 12.
Life doesn’t have to be complicated. And we don’t need to punish ourselves for changing our mind.
When there’s too much of anything, I get overwhelmed and I start panicking, even if it’s a good thing. I’m happy when I know where exactly everything is and what exactly do I own. When there are just few tasks on my to do list and I can easily go through them one by one. When there’s just few things in the fridge and I can see through it. When there’s just few bits of clothes in my wardrobe and they match well and it’s easy to pick my outfit for the day. When everything fits exactly who I am now and what I do now.
Minimalism saves my nerves, saves space (I’ve always loved small houses), saves money, saves time, saves energy, saves nature and resources, you name it. There’s so many reasons to be a minimalist.
I just think my biggest reason is the simplicity and how it helps me to identify the distractions and to get rid of them, so that I can clearly see what is actually important to me at the moment. It brings me back to me and when I have time to spend it on what I love and with people I love, it’s the ultimate recipe for happiness, really, that’s what it is.
I’m not a minimalist as in owning just one pair of jeans and a single bag of stuff, I’m waay too far from there yet but I love to downsize and to think about every single item that I own and if it’s necessary. My life is in a way still the same but it really isn’t. It became a string of minimalist moments that I collect in time, that happen more and more often and that always make a small or even bigger change, one that matters. It’s changing me and how I look at world bit by bit. It helps me to be always sure about my priorities, to follow my callings and become more and more present.
Yes, it definitely makes me happy.
I toto jsem přelouskal, byť ne plynule. Máš na tyto články návštěvnost ze zahraničí? Možná by to chtělo tu rubriku dát na nějaké viditelnější místo a zvýraznit i vlaječkou. A už ti vyšel medailon na tom blogu, jak jsi psala nedávno?
Teď až vidím, že tam novou ikonu EN máš, ale je to nevýrazné, vlaječka tak titěrná, že není ani vidět a to mám 24″ monitor, natož na tabletu. Prostě cizinec by měl vidět rubriku EN na první pohled.
Já doufám, že oranžové EN bude dostačující, a kdyby ne, zahraniční čtenář přejede menu a uvidí rubriku English, please…?, což by ho mělo nasměrovat. Očekávám návštěnost hlavně přes Miss Minimalist, tam budou čtenáři vědět, že je čeká český blog s anglickou rubrikou.
Medailonek by měl vyjít zítra.
Jo, tak ta budka je super, tohle plní přesně ten účel, jak jsem si představoval, že bys to měla udělat 🙂
Je to viditelnější, o tom žádná, ale že by se mi to nějak zvlášť líbilo… 😀 No, hlavně že to prozatím funguje, časem popřemýšlím, jak to udělat jinak.
Looks like my way to minimalism wasn’t so gloomy like yours was. And maybe our conception of minimalism is kinda different 🙂 who knows. When I read about minimalism for the first time, I immediately knew It’s something what was part of my life from very beginning. I’ve been always minimalis I guess. Of course – some text on the internet helped me out and gave me some kind of courage to get rid of all things around, but I’m not (and I’ve never been) nostalgic and romantic person, so I wasn’t painful at all for me.
Some minimalistic people told me „I had to get rid of my stuff and it was so horrible! I was crying! But it has to be done!“ – I don’t get it… what is horrible and painful about it? I thing the process of minimization is actually pretty fun 😀 And endless flux of relief!
Sorry, just ignore my soliloquy 😀
I don’t think my way to minimalism to be gloomy. I, too, have always had the minimalist in me, I had a lot of that philosophy already when I was a kid and I think everybody did. It’s nothing new, just rediscovering. My memory is certainly gloomy so I can’t say what was the first thing I actually read about minimalism – being called that name. All I know is that some authors have finally been able to hit the string hard, probably because they only focused on minimalism, it was a main topic, main philosophy, not something just by the way, like when a blogger you like suddenly writes an article about how everything should be simple. Yes, you agree, you think that’s true, but it doesn’t usually feel that strong, it doesn’t make you want to scream „fuck everything, I’m decluttering from right now!“.
It depends on where you are in your life. Everybody’s story will be different. Some people fell into so much restraints, borders, bad habits, that it’s sometimes almost impossible or at least very difficult to change and to begin to see things differently. It takes a crisis, a good book, sometimes plenty books or blog posts to read, sometimes you need an actual person that can be your mentor (whether you know them in person or not) and without that person it’s all just theory that you can’t grab even if you somehow believe it’s good and it makes sense.
I’ve learned that simplifying can be a looong process, even a lifetime one. You can be proud how much you’ve achieved but most people, at least in our country, don’t have such turn-overs as those foreign bloggers, likes of Leo and such. We just decide to live differently but we don’t go about it so epic.
I’m still decluttering, still adjusting my life, and lots of things are still painful to me and very hard. Sometimes it’s really not fun and although I do enjoy the outcome, with some things I struggle a lot. It’s about the attachment you had to those things, about the memories you don’t want to loose and about your reasons for it. I think it’s very hard for me especially since I’ve always had a bad memory and I don’t remember much of my childhood or growing up. I fear shitless that I’ll forget it all if I don’t have the things to remind me. I’ve already experienced many lost memories when revisiting my old toys and stuff, suddenly I saw how much I forget and they were good things that I believe I want to remember occasionaly. That’s why it is so hard to get rid of those things. Having a picture of your old teddy is not at all the same thing as having the teddy, being able to feel it, touch it, smell it.
It’s good for you that you don’t have to deal with this emotional shit 🙂 But I’m quite glad that I have to. The process is different for everybody, each of us have different lessons we have to take. This one is mine, it’s who I am.
The stressful years and the reaching the bottom sound a little „gloomy“ to me :))
I don’t got it – if the getting rid of the belongings causes pain, why people doin‘ this? Isn’t it some kind of signal that they are not doing the right thing actually? I got rid of my stuff because I don’t want it/like it/need it…
Well, maybe it’s time to admit that they are things in the world I will never quite understand 🙂 I think your argument „things can recall memories“ sounds pretty wise. I personally don’t need things to remind me something…
Maybe people should keep their stuff whether it brings them nice memories and causes pleasant feelings…
*shruggs*
I just had to live through few crisis‘ before I was even able to take the path. I don’t consider that a part of my journey to minimalism. This is what happened before and what brought me to a point where a new life was about to start. At that moment I „found“ (or more likely re-found) minimalism as a good way how to live your life and that was it. Since then it started and that wasn’t gloomy, I was very sure about it being right. Dunno, I guess you can look at it from many points of view 🙂
Because it brings you freedom? I am not struggling with giving up on my things because it’s a wrong thing to do but because I – as a soul and free being inside – am fighting my mind that created the heavy blocks around me. I’ve lived in some faith for years and milions of people are still living in the same. I can see through it now and I believe there’s something better out there. But first I need to win over my nostalgy and the bonds. I may have made it sound like a real struggle but it’s not that harsh, obviously I’m not giving up anything that is really important to me. I just constantly have to rethink my priorities and they change a lot, on top of that, ‚cause it’s me. There’s stuff and stuff. It’s only causing pain until you decide and some decisions are simply hard for me.
I remember many things but some I wouldn’t. E.g. I spent the whole elementary school erea exchanging little letters and notes with my friends. I do remember that and I know they were funny. But having them actually collected under my bed is completely different experience because when I sometimes read through them, I laugh like an idiot over what we wrote and how great our imagination was. I would never be able to remember the exact words if I didn’t have the notes. I know there are options like scan it or even just burn it and welcome the future but I’m old fashioned. This is a bond that might be holding me back and maybe it would set me free to get over it. But at the same time, what if I sat with my best friend in couple of years over a tea and read through them together? Even now it would be amaizing. We’ve been best friends for almost 20 years now. It’s one of the decisions I’m not able to make just yet. At the same time it buggs me because it’s a box under your bed. It’s something with a huge power over me and I don’t quite like it.
I’m not sure whether all of these good memories are completely good. It’s a mind thing again. It makes me think it’s something awesome but what if there’s some backstory to it that actually makes me feel bad? Old, or like the good days are lost, nostalgic… this is one of the cases I have yet to analyze. I’m on the way but thanks to these bonds to things it will definitely take me a lot more time than to you 🙂 Doesn’t mean I don’t want to do it or that I shouldn’t.
you really like writing a huge piles of text, huh? 😀
I’ve got lost a little in your text… So, did you keep that box with letters or not? The box makes you sad and happy in the same time somehow?
I personally keep all things that I love, but because there are only a few things I love, I got rid almost everything I had… And I still do 🙂
I kept it so far and yes, I think.
As I said – each one’s path is different because we are all different. But that doesn’t mean that just because it’s harder for me, minimalism isn’t good for me. That’s what I tried to explain because that’s what you implied before.
If you try to explain your inner mindwork to someone who doesn’t understand it, it might get longer. I don’t write it long because I want it to be long but because I tried to explain. I guess I failed anyway so, peace out 😀
No, you didn’t fail…
I just think harder and suddenly I think I understand pretty well, so… thank you for discussion 🙂
I think*