_{Minimalism doesn’t mean that you should have 100 things or 50 things (red: limited items). Rather have things that you actually need not want. - What is Minimalism to me and how we can benefit from that}

5 years into minimalism & how I feel about things now

When I first started, it was all messy. I was busy with college and I had so many things to attend. The idea of minimalism slipped out of my mind for a while.So, cleaning up wasn’t achievable until a week after I committed into the lifestyle. I managed to donate some of my clothes, downsized my prized possession (red: cute mugs), and began cleaning up. Overtime, I got way too obsessive about it until I was down to only 200 items in my apartment.

I was also traveling a lot at the time and only survived on a backpack as my essentials were food, shelter, clothes, internet, my medication, laptop, that was it. Everything else was secondary.. As I find more benefits and how it helped me with many things in my life at the time,

I even expanded into digital minimalism. I have written this benefits before and even until today, it still resonates,

[x] Spending less time choosing my clothes.
[x] Going early to any occasion.
[x] Getting a more quality relationship.
[x] Focus on my health.
[x] Less time to do house chores.
[x] More time to read books.
[x] Get rid of my scarcity mindset.
[x] Saving up more money.
[x] Having lesser distraction.
[x] More focused.
[x] Proper sleeping time.

_{From how minimalism has helped me getting my shit together}

So, my life was completely transformed from someone who once kept losing her glasses and always complains of not having the time to do laundry and things. To someone who has too much freedom and never loses the glasses. With lesser items, so many things are easier to manage.

There’s one intriguing feeling about it all,overtime you start feeling detached from your possession. Even now, if I lose it all in one night, I would be fine. That kind of feeling is what I felt after being a minimalist for 5 years.

As I was independent, living alone, and away from my toxic families . It was all under control. But as I visited home for the first time after 2 years, I got irritated.

I was not growing up in a minimalist house. My family was a hoarder. They love things and like many other people, it’s a way to show off wealth. I got frustrated and angry the moment I stepped into the house. “ Can we throw this out?” I kept telling my mom to throw so many things that time. I ranted how it was bad when we accumulated things that we didn’t even use anymore. But, that’s where I started learning that I can not force the lifestyle I have to others.

MEMORIES

However, overtime because my mom saw me and my lifestyle, she started following it. Though she’s still not into it, at least she was making an effort. And I understand like in the past when I got rid of things, the struggle was always the memories. Memories that are attached to things, making it difficult to get rid of the items. If you are new into minimalism, just take your time.

I didn’t even get rid of some of my items with memories until two years ago.

But when I let go of things with memories, good or bad. It was again, freeing. It made me never look into the past and besides, since I literally grew up writing it all on the blockchain, I could always peek into the moment of my life at some point in the past in the chain.

Don’t chase perfection

Another thing that I used to struggle was wanting for perfection. The internet made it seem that if you want to be a minimalist, you also have to look the part. But that’s not about it. We all eventually find a way to get into the lifestyle without conforming to what others do. Why do that?

I think when we attempt to copy others it’s only going to make us accumulate things instead of downsizing. So, it’s counterproductive. There are many ways to be a minimalist. All you need is to stick to the essence of it and that’s about it.

I know, at some point everyone jumps into the minimalist bandwagon. And it became a trendy thing, I recall circa 2019. While it’s very tempting to look the part, I told myself that it’s okay if I don’t have the “marker” or minimalism or the aesthetics of it.

Spice it up by playing games!

There’s one challenge that I liked to do in May, it’s called 30 days minimalism. The way I did this was on twitter where I documented downsizing the items while at the same time connection with fellow minimalists. So for instance, 1st may = 1 item, 2nd may = 2 items and so on. The items that you downsize are equal to the date of the month. It makes downsizing fun and you know that you are not alone in that journey.

Take it easy

When you commit to change your life and embark on a new journey, it seems tough at first. But overtime, it gets easier and suddenly time passes. I didn’t even realize it’s already 5 years.So, just take it easy, one thing at a time don’t stress it out because it won’t last.

Do not expect anyone to understand your new lifestyle right away

If I were going back in time, I would have told the younger me that it’s okay not to be perfect. I am not in competition with anyone to have the least things. And I should not expect anyone to understand my new lifestyle right away.

When you become a minimalist, sometimes people don’t know that and you should never expect anyone to know that. One case is that, during your birthday or some nice occasion, they would buy you things even when you told them that it’s okay not to. So just gladly accept it even if that probably bothers you(it did for me). The rest of the advice also resonates with the struggles that I experienced.

It’s all about a journey

Even after years of that, these days I still have some struggles. As I grew older it seemed that I needed more things to survive. Not to mention, at some point, I will talk about hobbies and minimalism. I kept thinking about that and how having hobbies is nice but also how to tackle the challenge of accumulating things due to a hobby.

One last thing, if you tried minimalism and you think it’s not for you, just drop it. Maybe it really isn’t for you. In the end, it’s all about the journey and not the perfection or trying to fit in.

Links to my previous article on minimalism :

1. Update on my Minimalist lifestyle

2. What Minimalism Means to Me and Why You Should Try it

3. Saturday Decluttering

4. Minimalism and Travel

Mac's Pinmapple Travel List

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