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There will never be a more perfect time than now to embrace minimalism for a happier life. The stars don’t need to align perfectly. Let me know if this is you:
You don’t consider yourself a hoarder but you feel like you have a lot of excess stuff hanging around. You’ve seen the posts on social media and on blogs (this was my favorite when I first started), maybe even YouTube that encourage you to let go of the clutter and excess.
Your countertops are filled with the things you use everyday and you have to pull things out of your cupboards to look for things that you use randomly… and where did that gravy shaker go anyways?!
Then you start thinking to yourself:
This is just the stuff you can see. There’s still the drawers and closets and storage spaces… oh my! Just the thought of trying to let go of even 25% of it, seems unrealistic to you… and it feels like it would take forever.
The question of what you own is also a question of how you want to live your life. Marie Kondo
A slight tinge of worry goes through your mind, what if you need it?
And you really spent good money on that stuff, you hate to just donate it, maybe you could sell it?
What about the things that you got as gifts? You couldn’t let those things go, what if the person you got it from asks about it? Or worse, what if they died and you didn’t have anything to remember them by?!
You realize that you’ve been distracted for the last hour, scrolling on your phone and thinking about all of the things.
Then you remember that birthday party that totally slipped your mind is today… so you go searching for the tape and scissors to wrap the gift.
Through frustration, after searching through drawer after drawer, you snap at the kids (or your spouse) and feel awful. You have like 7 pairs of scissors and even more tape! How come you can’t find any!? You end up running to the store and buying more tape. Then you end up wrapping the gift in the car.
While at the birthday party you are distracted, still thinking about your to-do list that waits for you at home.
Laundry.
Supper.
Bath kids.
Do dishes.
We’ve all lived through this at one point or another.
No wonder you’re stressed, frazzled and exhausted.
I didn’t set out to become a minimalist when I started my journey. I didn’t have an epiphany one day and decided “It’s time embrace minimalism for happier life”!
What I really wanted was to stop feeling frazzled. To enjoy life.
That was where the clutter clearing began. Just to try to make everyday life function better.
Through some fumbles in my own journey, I started learning what to do and what not to do. As I peeled back each layer of stuff, I could breathe a little easier.
When I was about two years into my journey, I started realizing that I wasn’t decluttering anymore, I was looking to create some white space. And so began the minimizing phase.
This was the point in time I went from feeling like I was treading water, to feeling like I was finally in the boat.
As I continued to release items that we didn’t need, or use, or love…. there was a feeling of satisfaction I got with each item leaving. It was almost as if I was addicted to that feeling of letting go!
And everyday life started feeling better.
I actually started enjoying cooking meals, something that was avoided previously.
The frustration and snappiness? That all but disappeared. I had so much more patience because I felt more fulfilled and less frazzled.
I began enjoying hobbies I had no time for before.
And the dishes? I did those on autopilot. I ran the dishwasher right before bedtime, and unloaded them in the morning.
Then something strange happened, I started doing something that was WAY out of character for me. I began making my bed every morning. Something I had never done my entire life.
I had time throughout the day to actually do the things I enjoyed doing, which in turn, made the things that I didn’t really like doing, more bearable.
The negative self talk like: “you’re lazy”, ” you procrastinate” or “you waste so much time” – those were gone!
Home started feeling like my place to relax, unwind and recharge.
Now when I need to tidy up at night (10 Minute Tidy™️) it’s not hard. Things go back where they belong. I actually know where they belong when I see them. And if I do have a Clutter Hotspot that pops up, I figure out a solution for those items.
Easy peasy!
So, when I share my messes on instagram now, they are way clearer than they were at the beginning. There are no humble brags, just a different level of clutter. You can get there too!
We can all embrace minimalism for a happier life.
After all, our home environment is so important to our overall well being… so it should be a priority.