Madeleine Olivia - Minimal: How to simplify your life and live sustainably

To my top four fans: mum Debbie, dad Mick,
sister Charlie and partner Alex. Youve been
there for me through it all and always keep me afloat.

Minimal and sustainable living: a way to simplify your life, all the while doing good for our planet. Seems simple, right? Unfortunately this can be a big task, and one that many of us attempt and struggle with (me included). Lots of learning, changing and growing is involved in living more mindfully. My goal is to help you in this pursuit by sharing information and giving tips, all the while reminding you that nobody is perfect.

The way many of us currently live our lives is seriously unsustainable. We buy lots of things, throw lots away and use up lots of energy. Its how so many of us have been brought up, its how everyone else around us does things and its all a part of living in a convenience- and consumerist-driven world two things which do not lend themselves to living minimally or sustainably. You have to actively go against the status quo, change learned behaviours and make an effort in your day-to-day life by saying no.

But going back to basics and being kinder to ourselves and the planet can be achieved with enough knowledge, experience and passion.

I have been trying out this whole minimalism and sustainable living for quite a few years. Going vegan, decluttering, simplifying, reassessing what I buy, becoming more sustainable and focusing on appreciating what I already have in life. I documented a lot of this on my YouTube channel, sharing my experiences with strangers online. Which is how I got here today, writing this book.

Before this change, I was a totally different person, with a totally different focus. I grew up obsessed with fashion and beauty. While I cared about the environment, I didnt think much about how my personal habits affected the planet. I loved animals, but meat was basically my favourite food. I recycled but didnt think a great deal about single-use plastic. I was a shopaholic who dressed to impress others and wore makeup to hide my insecurities.

I had a hard time at university as I struggled with an eating disorder, social anxiety and a desperate desire to fit in. Looking back I feel sorry for past me, wishing I could explain to her that she is beautiful without makeup, and interesting without fashionable clothes. Not to mention how frustrated I feel at how much time, money and resources I wasted on items that ended up in someone elses wardrobe, down the charity shop or in the bin. I was looking for security, acceptance and attention in all the wrong places. And in doing so, I was losing the balance of what was important in life.

Towards the end of university I started to re-evaluate my life. I made big changes, such as going vegan, no longer shopping at my favourite fast-fashion outlets, skipping plastic and using my own homemade beauty products. After graduating and failing to find a job I saw a future in, I started from scratch by moving back in with my parents. This is when I started my YouTube channel.

Moving back home left me confronted by the amount of stuff I owned, and how much money I had wasted on things that meant nothing to me anymore. So I let go of a huge amount of my stuff and started to focus on what made me happy.

As I documented this decluttering process online, more and more people became interested in my honest take on minimalism, veganism and sustainable living. I found community in the people online who shared similar interests and desires to minimise and live more intentionally.

The feeling of abandoning all I knew and owned was so powerful for me. And as clichd as it may seem, this process taught me a lot about myself and what I wanted out of life. I have learnt to take care of who I am, as well as understand my impact on this Earth. I have become more grateful, organised, thoughtful, self-aware, confident, careful, dedicated, honest and kind to myself. The knowledge and information Ive gathered along the way makes me increasingly aware of the importance of spreading this message to as many people as possible. Which is why I am writing this book.

There is a stereotype of minimalists, vegans or environmentalists that make them seem like extreme activists or crazy hippies following unattainable and inaccessible lifestyles. I really want to change this impression. There are so many different versions of these types (and you dont have to label yourself as any of them either). You can take elements of all or some of these lifestyles, and make them your own. You can still be a normal person while giving a shit!

I want to share the simple ways you can declutter your life, reduce waste, make your own beauty products, shop less, practise self-care, cook plants and not beat yourself up about messing up during the process. If we are to make a significant difference, we need to make this way of living more accessible to all. These changes can be as realistic and small as you want them to be. Im not a lifestyle guru, Im not perfect and Im certainly not an expert in any of these things (except for maybe cooking a totally delicious vegan meal). Ive learnt this information through my own research from other experts who are leading the way. Im just a normal person trying to make positive changes to exist more consciously, find deeper meaning in life and reduce my footprint on this Earth. Hopefully I can inspire you to do the same.

But why is this so important?

You may have heard of a little thing called climate change. Unfortunately weve got ourselves into a situation where if we dont change what were currently doing, the future isnt looking ideal, to put it mildly. Temperatures are heating up, ice is melting, sea levels are rising, the ocean is suffering, extreme weather is occurring more frequently and animals are going extinct. Climate-change deniers need to start listening to science. These conditions arent normal and this drastic change in our climate is being caused by humans.

We seem to have forgotten how to live at one with our Earth and instead have become lost in our own greed. Indigenous people and those living in low-income countries are on the frontlines of climate change, and theyre already experiencing its effects. They are the most vulnerable, as they rely on the land and its resources for survival, yet they are contributing the least to the climate crisis and instead are trying to protect the land they live on. All the while, high-income countries continue to pump out new things for exceptionally cheap prices, use fossil fuels on a massive scale, factory farm animals and cover everything in plastic, in turn damaging our already fragile planet.

If we dont do something about this soon (and by soon were talking in the next 12 years, or even 18 months as some experts are now saying), we will reach the point of no return where nothing can be done to stop global warming and its catastrophic consequences. This is not a drill, people; were talking species extinction.

A mass movement and overhaul of society is required to stop the worst from happening, and political action is needed. Capitalism has enabled so many of us to grow our incomes, consume more crap we dont need and use way more resources than we should be allowing ourselves. We need to stop the hustle culture, flaunting what we own and constantly striving for more more more. Instead, we need to make people strive for