K.L. Hammond - 30 Oct

What is Minimalism

Many people wonder what minimalism is exactly. You may have heard the term, but you may not know exactly what it is. This is totally normal. It is not something that is talked about a lot in everyday life. That is because many people are so caught up in the materialistic aspect of everyday living, that the thought of cutting anything out is simply appalling. Minimalism is not in the vocabulary of many of the people today. However, it is slowly becoming more popular in the footsteps of the Going Green revolution. It is not something that is for everyone, but it is worth considering.

It is best that you know for sure what you are considering before you decide on anything. This book will inform you on things that you need to know so that you can make an informed decision on whether you want to try this lifestyle or not. Be fair warned, once you decide to go minimalist, you never go back. You will want to share this lifestyle with everyone, and that is what it is: A lifestyle. Be prepared to get some sideways looks from those around you, who may call you a nutcase. Not a lot of people can wrap their heads around the fact that you can be happy without owning a lot of stuff.

Minimalism is the act of reducing the stuff in your life to pretty much the bare necessities. It is getting rid of the excess in your life, and keeping only what you must have to live. A lot of people have a hard time with this concept because they feel that they worked so hard to get the stuff that they have, they should not have to give it up to feel happy. The truth is, you don't have to give up everything to be happy, but if you refuse to give up the frivolities, you cannot say that you are living a minimalist lifestyle because that is what minimalism is. Living with the minimal amount of stuff that you can.

Minimalism is all about finding the joy in life. It is about opening your eyes and seeing the world around you more than you ever have before. It is about getting your life back, and not letting material possessions rule you anymore. There is extreme minimalism, and there is just minimalism.

When thinking of minimalism, many people immediately jump to the extremists. However, not everyone is up to that level. You see, there are many levels to minimalism. Some people only give up things they dont use, and some people live in a tiny shack, eating bark and berries that they find in nature. It all depends on your comfort level.

No matter your comfort level, there are some benefits to choosing this lifestyle. These benefits are listed below.

• Cut down on stress

Have you ever felt inexplicably overwhelmed? Did you feel like your world was crashing down, even though everything was going well? Did you chalk it up to maybe being depressed, even if you have never struggled with depression before? What if you were told, that maybe there was another reason for your unexplained stress? That is right. Our everyday lives are filled with unnoticed stress. This stress can build up over time because we never notice it soon enough to take care of it.

A lot of this stress seems to stem from having too much stuff. It seems kind of silly because we always seem to buy things that are meant to make our lives easier. We buy the latest cell phones, the nicest televisions. Cars that have more features than we could possibly use during the life of the vehicle, and so much more.

It seems that everyone wants to keep up with what everyone around them has in their possessions and with that they make themselves miserable to try to keep up with the status quo. Chances are, you are that way as well. You can end up going into debt trying to get the next big thing in whatever gadget comes out to make life easier.

The reason this causes so much stress is that you find yourself trying to run this rat race of getting the next big thing. That means you must make money to buy it, and if you do not have the best job, this puts a lot of stress on you to save the money before it comes out.

The average workweek for a business is forty hours. However, the average American works sixty-hour weeks to try to get by. They do this by pulling overtime and extra shifts. This is hard on the body and mind, as there is not much time to truly relax. Your weekend comes and goes if you are lucky enough to have one at all. Trying to balance work and family becomes a constant juggling act, and you feel like all the pins are going to fall at any second.

Money to buy the new stuff is not the only worry though. You will find that accumulating too much stuff can be a stress. This is because when you are too busy trying to work your life away, you never have time to get rid of the stuff you do not use anymore and sort through all the new. It often ends up in a spare space, such as an attic or garage, or a storage unit. While it may seem like it is temporarily forgotten, it is always a worry in the back of the mind.

Keeping up with the clutter is also a really hard thing to do. You seem to spend all your time cleaning house, that you find you do not have much time for yourself. If you miss a day cleaning house, it seems that you spend all weekend playing catch up rather than going outside and playing catch with your kids. The day to day hustle and bustle is only intensified by the fact that you come home to a messy house, a mountain of dishes, and a whole lot of laundry.

Having too much stuff can also cause you to feel enslaved in your own household, and can cause issues in communications with the outside world. You spend all your time trying to use all the things that you buy, that you never have time to step outside and say hello to your neighbors. You find that even on your days off work, you come home, and the hours are whisked away by the devices you purchased and the ever-increasing need for constant entertainment. You want to use what you bought so that you are not wasting money, but in using the things that you buy, you spend your waking hours engrossed in them. When was the last time you visited a family member for no special reason? When was the last time you went to the river and went fishing? When was the last time you spoke with your neighbor? Do you even know their names?