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
Not sure how many of you ever read my footer but as I mentioned, I consider myself a minimalist. I’ve been that way since I started the journey back in 2017. It all started just because of a youtube video and how its algorithm led me to get into this lifestyle we call minimalism. The lifestyle just fits into my life, goal, and everything at that time. I was going into 20 and all I ever thought about was traveling and living nomadically. So, it made much more sense when I needed and wanted fewer items. But what about now? What has changed?
On this occasion, I try to answer all of the minimalism prompts because to me, they all somehow connected.Here's the prompts #KISS - Blogging Ideas 7
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
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
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!
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
 | Mac is a jack of all trades. A typical introvert in love with literature, books, technology and philosophy. She is also so into nootropics, productivity, minimalist lifestyle, cybersecurity, and languages. Other than that, she is passionate about cooking and traveling. In her free time, she enjoys learning various things. If you like her content, don't hesitate to upvote, leave a comment or a feedback. A re-blog is also appreciated. |
It's funny that we embraced minimalism right around the same time, although I found my way to it by having everything ripped away. It was one of the most freeing experiences I ever had, realizing that in a blink all that shit I had been hoarding and collecting as some sort of externalization of self worth was just gone... and I didn't miss any of it.
Of course when we make a radical life change that is not congruent with the people we are around, it leads to repulsion. The perfectionist mindset is critical by nature after all and when we direct it externally, it's not hard to see everything we don't like or want in the world and feel a need to fix it, change it, or get rid of it.
I've learned over time that I have to direct that energy inward as it's ultimately a reflection of what I'm feeling about my own life. When I say repulsion, I mean it on an energetic level. It's not like we don't love or care about our families for example, but they may just not be conducive to the life we want, and that's okay. We all have our own paths.
Honestly it's pretty awesome you figured out so early not to let things own you. The Universe has its own perfect timing and we all get what we need when we need it. We all get where we're going when we get there. The more shit that isn't serving us that we let go of, the more room we have for everything we do want and need in our lives. Much love lady.
I can quote everything you said and I couldn't agree more. I always believe that the universe has its own perfect timing for everything. Our task is just living and trying our best to enjoy it.
Hi Mac! I read your post early and in fact I was so interested in your topic that I read all your previous posts on minimalism but I went to work.
Honestly I didn't know that this was really a philosophy of life, I had read in your footer that you are a minimalist, but I figured you meant that you carry few things in your backpack, because you like to travel and I assumed that was the reason, but once I read your posts I understood too many things, this really is a way of detachment towards the material and live only with the fundamental to be happy only with that, I was really impressed because after so long I was in complete ignorance about what the term really meant, I only associated it to art such as architecture and design, but I never thought it was something so broad.
I must tell you that I admire you completely, I would like to be like you, really, not to be influenced by the outside and develop a need for so many things that I feel I need to live and that should not be so.
I will go deeper into the subject because it really interests me, I want to be like you when I grow up hahaha, that we say around here to joke because the truth is that I am older than you by about 10 years 😅, but you are very very mature for your age.
Greetings @macchiata and ¡congrats for your 5 years minimalism! I keep reading your posts and I am ashamed to comment you, but today I left the shamed aside.
Hahah yeah, I think in the past it works like you said, people having fewer items. But the truth it, there is more than items in minimalism. It's really something so broad that I didn't even touch a lot of it. I think this week I will share what it's like being a minimalist but also having a hobby.
I still have a lot to learn but it seems as I age, I am getting tired of learning. I try to not be too curious because like they say, curiosity kill the cat 😃 or maybe not.
Never be ashamed to comment on my post. I always welcome a comment. That means my post is able to make someone stop by and say something. Even just a thank you, I really appreciate it.
I will do it from now on, I'll keep an eye on these posts, I saw that you are a Korean food lover like me, I love it! I will try to enter more often to read you friend @machiata
I read somewhere that you need human contact every 6 months or so and that's when you go out and travel hahahaha you are so much like me, I wish I could do that. I swear I would do it because I'm a hermit, I prefer digital contact, in fact I'm waiting for artificial intelligence to advance just to have my own robot companion, I think I won't need more than that in my life haha. Ok I exaggerate a little bit as a joke. But I seriously prefer not to socialize with the people around me, I just don't want to, I have to and I force myself to.
I love korean food. They are healthy and nutritious. I can't cook a lot of them because it's complex though.
Yeah! I always do this. Even right now, I am pausing after a lot of human contact from December to April. This time around I am taking 3 months with minimal exposure to human before I am going back hitting the road.
You can do that from time to time, all it takes is just a bit of curiosity and willingness to explore what other people think about life 😄. Have no expectations when communicating but also have a firm boundaries. It's challenging but like everything, easier when you often do that.
I did several attempts in several moments of our lives to start downsizing as we already lived quite minimalistic while moving countries as well as not having our own place for a while. At some point we settled her and even thought we'd stay for longer so I accumulated a lot of craft supplies for example, some of them never used, lol.
Now that we're moving countries again, I should have started the May challenge, but I didn't, so I will just make sure I throw out 20 items today instead as I still have too many items to take with us in less than 2 weeks.
Thanks for giving me an extra push as I've been trying to sell items for months now, which was quite successful, but some things just don't sell (at the current time) and I have to remind myself that these listings/chats take so much time which I rather spend differently just weeks before we leave, just throwing the items out is better for me personally so I can narrow things down and get closer to having our final items.
Perfect timing reading your blog! I will go back to older parts as well. Sharing your post on Listnerds to hopefully it will inspire others!
I get that too! when I stay in a place far too long (5 months), I ended up buying things. But I learned my lesson. These days I ask myself if getting that cute mug is worth it or if I really need that to save costs because cute mugs is my kryptonite 😂
I also recently learned lessons to find hobbies that won't make me accumulate too much things/has the option to rent whenever I need it. And again; that's the challenge.
Good luck with moving. It seems a bit challenging when you try to downsize but the MAY challenge may as well be worth it. What about donating some of them? I am not sure about the culture where you live now. For me, donating helps and if I can throw them away, I would but in most case, I always give it away to my housemates/neighbors or anyone before throwing it away.
Thank you for sharing this post with others! I appreciate it 😄
Hey Mac,
It is so thoughtful!
I could quote it all and comment on everything you've said because I concur with it all.
Indeed, minimalism should not be a particular look. When someone looks at me, they might know that I'm a minimalist...but persons who "know" me deep (very few) do.
✊
I'm proud of myself for achieving this mindset.
I like what you hinted at about hobbies and minimalism. I do hope to make that a topic one week, because it was one of the dilemmas I paced downsizing to live on my narowboat, and I thought about how the two correlate.
I am always delighted to read your posts, I've check all the links, and actually remember reading some of them before.
Oh, and the hoarding in houses to show-off items, drives me bunkers.
😄 It's okay not to look the part but not all understand this.
Also Maybe you can make hobby and minimalism for it next week? as I'd like to learn what others do with their hobby and incorporating it with minimalism too. Some of my past hobbies didn't include any gears but now that I do swimming, I started having gears and needed replacement new or even a spare one now and then. And even they take up a little space when I travel too because I simply couldn't live without them 😅
Ah, I have a different topic scheduled to come out in a few hours. I will definitely add it soon though.
An important point you mentioned in your post too, is that people are always competing with others; something that only leads to bitterness, resentment, and negative emotions. I think as a minimalist, you elimate that trait from your life and focus on improving you and becoming a better version of yourself every day. Or at least, that's where I put my energy:)
Hi @macchiata! Wow, that's a great post. Can't help but agree with all your points 😍
Definitely, it's hard to be a minimalist when people around you are not used to the idea. But I admire you for showing your family that people can live a minimalist life to be happy. And I'm glad your mom eventually found your habits sensible.
As for me, my mom once practiced Buddhism and is generally a very simple person. But of course, sometimes, she and I still can't help succumbing to the expectations of relatives to live "successful" lives--having a high-paying job, bountiful business, grand houses, cars, you name it.
Anyway, have a great week ahead, and looking forward to your other minimalist posts 🤗
Oh yeah, removing the expectations from others (relatives) was something that was also a struggle for myself even my mom. I don't care with it but my mom do, which sometimes always turns into a heated argument. It's really difficult to teach her that sometimes, we don't need those just because we have to look cool or seen happy. But I guess one thing at a time. Maybe one day we can remove those extra annoying noises 😄
I guess that's really how those expectations should be treated: as noise. Thanks for the advice!
It is hard to force the lifestyle to other, it is so much different from our culture.
It might take time for those who interested. but will not acceptable for other.
Looking at the benefits, it seems like a good lifestyle to follow.
When we trace it back to history, it's not that different. BUT in modern times, it's definitely different from majority Indonesian modern culture. It's all about showing off wealth through things we own. It has its own benefits but at the same time anything that's extreme is also not good.
As a hoarder (to some degree), going through these lines felt like a struggle and "redemption" at the same time. I feel the need to declutter my house soooo badly, I don't have the time to do it because of my work schedule and I am looking forward to June 22nd when I'll finally be free to spend time throwing things, donating, recycling. Holding on to stuff just in case they come in handy in the future really feels like a burden sometimes.
What do you hoard the most? for me mugs and books are things that I find myself at least buying each month 😅 so often in a year I would have 12 mugs then ended up giving it away at some point.
I think you can do the the challenge where you throw things based on the date. it seemed though but easier tbh. As in the end, you will know how much exactly that are gone.
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Nice and well-written post. Found you through Listnerds. Cheers!
Thanks for checking out!
Thanks for the tips. I love Minimalism cause it just make life simple. There is already too much complication in the world already.
Yeah! the lifestyle is all about simplifying life in a complicated and chaotic world.
Awesome, great that you see now abundance instead of scarcity. It's been a cool journey you have been on. thanks also for the tips, especially about perfection.
😃 It took a while to get there but it has been an awesome one. Thanks for checking out!
It's nice to read you about this.
How could someone (me) start a minimalistic lifestyle in first place? Any advices?
Nice post, I will read the previous post about that topic too.
Start small. Maybe you have things that you don't need anymore and cluttering your space? you can either sell/donate/give it away. Then from there, you will see that maybe all these times you only buy what you "want" and not what you "need".
And also, do you think your life would be much better if you don't have too much clutter? less time scrolling stuff? it's really about finding out improvements in life that could enhance your living situation. Minimalism is encompassing many things not just items that we own but also our finance and more.
On many occasions, I feel that I have a lot of things, but they are there "just in case I need them one day".
Yesterday I threw many of them away and it was only in a small corner of my room. There is still a lot of work to do, physically and mentally speaking.
Something I'm also interested in implementing in my life is digital minimalism. I need to simplify in order to pay attention to what really matters.
Thank you for your advice.
Thanks for your very informative post which I found on Listnerds.
I think minimalism is admirable. I like the idea of de-cluttering but minismalism is something different. After extensive travelling and seeing how some people live happily with very little - I realise that I could do with much less and I have done so where I can. I still have too amny things but I am not attached to them. At least that changed for me.
That's good if you make the small steps. As you said, minimalism is something different and not just about de-cluttering. It's encompassing all aspects in our life. Once we commit to the lifestyle, it's not just about things.
So true.
Thanks for your very informative post which I found on Listnerds.
I think minimalism is admirable. I like the idea of de-cluttering but minismalism is something different. After extensive travelling and seeing how some people live happily with very little - I realise that I could do with much less and I have done so where I can. I still have too amny things but I am not attached to them. At least that changed for me.
Even though I haven't given Minimalism a try yet. I am still interested in learning about the lifestyle and how it benefits people who embrace it and live it.
I can certainly see how it would give you more time to do things you really want to do.
Like reading more books.
Thanks for sharing your journey and being authentic with your struggles.
!CTP
Each of us lead different lives and there's definitely struggle in being a minimalist once we embrace it. But as I said, if anyone does not find it enjoyable, it may not be the right lifestyle for them. I hope you find more people into minimalism and see how it has helped them. Who knows, maybe once you'll try it? 😄 thanks for checking this out!
That is definitely true, @macchiata. One of the areas in which I would tend toward minimalism is decorating. I prefer to not have a bunch of stuff laying around that I have to move to dust and clean. We live with my Dad who is rather the opposite. It's a struggle sometimes but we are respectful and then we keep our part of the house more the way we want it. 😀 Enjoy your day.
!CTP
OMG yes! decorating house with stuff can collect dust. Since I am allergic to dust mites, keeping them minimal definitely helps. Thanks for checking my post, I'll have to visit yours at some point.
Especially all those decorative pillows. Oy! Are you really sleeping on all of those? LOL Probably not! You're very welcome, @macchiata! Have an awesome day. 😀
!CTP
!ALIVE
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Good Morning and Thank you, @youarealive! Enjoy your day.😀
Your post is inspiring. Thanks for sharing!
Glad to share the story!
Excellent post. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for checking it out!