Blogmas- Day 6 | Why Minimalism
My friends and coworkers know that I am a stickler for systems. If you ask my husband what’s my favorite thing to do, he would say it is get rid of anything and everything. Honestly, it’s not that I enjoy getting rid of things. I just need everything to have a place, purpose and get used.
When I went to college, I started by sharing a box of a room and felt I did pretty good about making sure my things stayed on my side. As the year’s went on, I started to dwindle the amount of things that I owned honestly because of my internal questioning as to where things had come from.
For me, this is how minimalism began to show itself in my life. Fast forward a couple of year, I was finally in my own college graduation and moving across the country just three weeks later. I did not want to have to take moving truck so if the items did not fit in my Ford Escape, it was not important. My 591 sq ft apartment would thank me because I was able to fit my entire wardrobe (all seasons), kitchen and bathroom as well as cleaning supplies within my home without feeling as if everything was every where.
We got EXTREMELY creative with space and ensuring that I had just enough for me to function and have the occasional friend over. I remember moving out of my apartment to live with my best friend and she was shocked about how much did not have to come with me. Even the move back to my hometown was easy, all of my belonging — excluding furniture— fit within the car and my husband (then boyfriend) was surprised as to how much stuff I did not have.
I believe that minimalism teaches individuals to value what they have, in addition to not becoming addicted to the need of having things. Minimalism is not a have the bare minimum mentality; the practice truly requires you to get serious about how you value your space, and what makes items, systems and functions make you function as your best self.
What do you think about when you hear people speak of minimalism? Based on my testament to how minimalism has shaped my life, what helpful and critical perspectives can you pull from the concept of minimalism?
