As a 20-year-old living in the life of budding technologies and a world that never sleeps. I found myself becoming easily overwhelmed by the pressure put on by countless companies, with their elixirs of life and their ‘Must haves’. Especially as a young person and even more so as a woman, there is a certain pressure put on you to look, act and be a certain way. This way of life that is ‘ideal’ is in-fact the least possible, and so I adopted minimalism.
Minimalism has become increasingly popular over the last few years with people ditching consumerism to lead a simple and stress-free life. Most people have heard of minimalism as throwing a few useless things away, or simply decluttering. While this is on the right track, minimalism is so much more than that. We have spent years creating meaningless bonds with our countless tops, and shorts and makeup that it starts to become a part of us and a daily stress.
Minimalism as a way of life
I have now been a minimalist for over 2 years and have adopted some simple changes in my thought processes that has made the change to minimalism not just a fad, but a way of life. Changing behaviours and mindsets you have been indoctrinated into can be very, very hard, but it all starts with looking at your stuff.
1. Analyse your things
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2. Donate or throw away things that don’t serve you
Look at your stuff (and I mean all of it), Think to yourself; ‘what serves me? What do I use daily? What controls me?’. By analysing your stuff, you really get a feel for what is and is not necessary. Think about it as throwing away stress; with every top you get rid of (or donate) or every lipstick you toss away is a load lifted off your shoulders or, ‘one less thing to worry about’ .
3. Find hobbies that improve health and well being
As I threw away the items that didn’t serve me, I felt lighter, like my stuff didn’t control me anymore. Not only was my space clean but I had more space to do things that I loved (yoga, exercise). The feeling is so good that you become discouraged from consuming and you begin to relearn what it’s like to be a person and I mean a REAL person .
4. Go for a walk to the shops and DON’T BUY ANYTHING
The feeling of not falling for societies tempting lure to consume holds a lot of power to it, one that I have come to love. It certainly doesn’t happen over night and there are temptations everywhere. Be aware of when you feel the need to buy something unnecessary and ask yourself 'Do i really need this?' and 'Why do i think i want this?'.
5. Be proud of your space and live a little more consciously
I am not a perfect minimalist, and to be perfectly honest you don’t have to be. If everyone does their part to reduce mass consumption and live a little more consciously, we would be doing ourselves and our earth a lot of good. Hopefully adopting a minimalist lifestyle will improve your life the way it did for me.
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