I got started on my road to minimalism for lots of different reasons, the biggest were my overall feeling of clutter, chaos, and dissatisfaction with my house. It's been a slow process over the last year or so, and I honestly didn't know what minimalism was when I started. I started trying to create more organized areas in my house, and doing more organized things in my life; creating a "command center" meal planning and keeping track of activities on a big wall calendar. But none of it made a huge difference, probably because I was just moving stuff around instead of doing what I really needed to, which was getting rid of stuff! Around the same time my friend mentioned minimalism to me, and a light bulb went off. I started researching, and following lots of different blogs and Facebook pages, I pinterested the crap out of various organization guides, and finally I dug in.
I went room by room and started purging. I found a 6 week calendar that gave me an accessible way to tackle the challenge of decluttering my house. This first sweep through each room was so motivating and invigorating! Who would have thought getting rid of stuff could be so awesome! The kitchen/panty was where I saw the biggest difference right away. My shelves and drawers were so much cleaner. I could see everything I needed and used on a regular basis and so much of the clutter was gone. I have done a second and third purge of almost every area in my house since that first time, and now i'm realizing how easy it is for me to see something, recognize that I haven't used it in months and let it go.
After I went through the initial purge, that friend, Camille (The Burley Tribe) told me about a documentary by The Minimalists that took my views on minimalism one step further. It made me think about all the things we buy, and all the things we throw away, and how little we think about those actions. It made me realize that very few of my physical possessions bring me any real or lasting happiness, and that I should take that knowledge and live my life accordingly. Its an incredible documentary and I highly recommend it!
So now where am I? I hit a wall recently where a lot of my motivation seemed to have left me. I was feeling slightly defeated because I still thought the house was so full, and we still seemed to be spending money on things I wasn't sure were bringing us happiness. And so I didn't think about it for a while. Then magically, my husband cleared out a huge bag of his clothes, and somehow that restored my inspiration. Also for the first time, I didn't go back through his clothes and try to convince him to keep things (a huge downfall for us). And then I went through some of my clothes, and tried things on and was honest with myself about what I actually liked, and what I was keeping "just in case" or because I thought it held monetary value. But the thing I like so much about minimalism is finding that value of things that aren't actually things. Finding the time and the space and the energy that I have because i'm not cleaning or organizing or fighting with the clutter of things that aren't actually making me happy.
Sometimes minimalism can seem confining almost, that I cannot be a minimalist because I don't fit into a certain mold with bare rooms and a certain small number of possessions. One of the things The Minimalists say is that "minimalism looks different for everyone" and I'm finding that to be true. Really i'm more in search of simplicity than minimalism, or authenticity; authentic simplicity. Trying to find real happiness and joy and purpose in my life and I know that I won't find it in any of my things, but in the people and experiences I allow myself to see and have when I clear out the clutter.
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