Living Styles: Minimalism
Minimalism is a living style that focuses on decluttering not just the space around you, but your internal life as well. In terms of room and living space design, minimalism means a lot of clean, blank spaces and only the decorations that really make you happy or serve a functional purpose. A wall of books can be ‘minimal’ if that wall of books makes you smile whenever you look at it.
At first, you might feel like giving up so much of your stuff would just make you feel deprived and like you’re missing out on life, but minimalism is not about who has the least amount of stuff. What it focuses on instead is how having the things that you do have makes you feel. If you could place something non-sentimental and non-holiday related in a box and not think about for six months, the odds are that it’s just clutter or set-dressing in you life, not something that truly brings you joy.
Minimalism is about rejecting the idea that more is always better or a sign of success by cleaning out not just physical things like doubles of items or general things you truly don’t need, want, or use, but also any mental clutter that these things bring.
This living style also helps to reduce bills and credit card debt as those who really commit to minimalism don’t generally run up their cards with new purchases whenever the seasons change. Rather than buying a whole new wardrobe when autumn comes around, someone living as a minimalist would be more likely to push their spring and summer clothes to one side of their closet and reach instead for one of the interchangeable, well-planned ‘colder weather’ outfits.
All in all, minimalism is a living style that prizes living intentionally. It rejects the ‘big house, flashy car, house full of things’ marker of success that is so engrained in our collective culture and instead opts to live lightly but fully.