How to be a minimalist - Part one

Sometimes, people ask me how to be a minimalist. They wonder if minimalism is about being frugal, or protecting the environment, or design. My answer is: it can be.

When I started streamlining in one aspect of my life, the relief and wellbeing I felt from those actions propelled me into tackling other aspects.

At the end of the day, every minimalist’s environment will look different. What’s beautiful or useful to you may be unnecessary clutter to me. There’s no absolute right way to be a minimalist. As long as you remove what doesn’t fit in your life and you’re content with your environment and way of life, you’re winning at minimalism.

I don’t particularly like writing specific “how to” articles. And if you search online, I’m sure you’ll find a plethora of articles discussing this topic. So who am I to give you advice?

However, I’ve been living it. So I can tell you about what’s been working for me.

At first, I was going to put everything in one article. But as I was writing, I realized that it might be better to separate it into parts. I’m not quite sure how many yet, but I’m eager to get going. So here’s part one.

I’ll tell you about the things that I’ve done that you can do too, if your goal is to get onto your own journey to simplicity. It’s going to get messy and it might look like chaos at first. But keep going. I promise the results are worth it.

Before you even lift a finger; dream!

What does your perfect life look like? Are you travelling once or twice a year? Do you have weekly dinner parties? Are you creating art? Are you reading a book a month? Do you have monthly movie marathons? Are you living in an apartment, house, trailer, or something else? Or are you a nomad constantly on the road? Do you have tons of kids? Do you live on a farm? Are you involved in your community? Do you have any pets? What’s your ideal schedule like? Do you exercise?

Once you’ve figured it out, write it down. Write as much detail as you can and want, and then keep it close by. Hang it somewhere you pass by often, like the bathroom mirror or the refrigerator. Read it when you pass by.

I’ve written about this before. I found that going through this exercise helped me see what I wanted. But the best part is that it also helped me realize what I already had.

I think it’s actually a good idea to go through this exercise often. Maybe once a year would be a good. You can see if you’re on track and if you still want the same things. We grow and evolve over time. What seemed like the perfect life last year may not be that great of an idea this year. Maybe you lived through a major life event that changed everything, of a few things.

So if you’ve never done this, I highly recommend it. If you have done it, do it again, for funzies!

Tune in next week for part two!