Every Monday I post Real Life Minimalists, a profile of one of my readers in their own words. If you’d like to participate, click here for details.
This week, we have a wonderful contribution from Craig, who explains how minimalism has transformed his life—helping him to become a healthier, happier, and more focused person. Please visit his blog to learn more.
Craig writes:
The 21st century is an exciting and daunting time to live.
We have the technology to live simpler lives than the past few decades ago.
Yet that’s not the world we live in today.
Instead, we work long hours and have little time for anything meaningful. Everyday, we are bombarded by distractions and advertisements that grab us by the throat and demand our attention. Not surprisingly, people have become increasingly disharmonic.
In my early to mid twenties, I endured constant fatigue, anxiety and depression as I gave most of my time to a dead-end job and reaped very few rewards in return. Through my emotional turmoil, I found junk food, sugar, tv and video game addictions to be an easy method of coping. As a result I gained weight which brought about a feeling of shame that later began to effect my relationship.
I had actually stumbled across the concept of Minimalism years before recently. But at the time, I was still living with parents and didn’t have much experience in life outside of college so I had no idea how I could apply it to my life.
Then five year later, I stumbled upon a talk by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, aka The Minimalists. Ryan told a story about how he and Josh had climbed the ranks of the corporate ladder and earned six figure incomes only to have it cause them more misery than they had hoped for. He then explained how Minimalism could reduce clutter, stress, dept, anxiety, discontentment and give you more time, health, freedom, happiness and meaning.
After watching the talk, I spent several days researching Minimalism. I subscribed to just about every blog I could find. I wanted to know what practical steps I could take to live more freely and more meaningfully.
I began by reducing distractions so that I’d have more focus and more time. I digitised my bills so that I could manage them online without the stress of dealing with hundreds of papers. I traded in video games, CDs, DVDs, books and other possessions which no longer added value to my life. I stopped wasting my money on junk food that made me feel like crap and replaced it with healthier foods that really give me energy. I learned how to listen and empathise with others so that I could create more meaning in my relationships.
But the habits that required the most effort to let go of were my tv and gaming addictions. Neither of these are evil, but if today were my last day to live, I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be sat down in front of a glowing screen running away to a make-believe world instead of doing what’s important to me with my limited time in this world.
Letting go of excessive television and gaming allowed me to spend more time reading, learning and and growing.
People will always tell you how you should live and sometimes they will do so good intentions.
They’ll tell you that you should work hard to earn a high income, that you should dedicate most of your life to paying off a house, that you should have “luxuries” such as a car or TV subscription, that you should devote whatever time you have left after work to raising kids even if it’s not the lifestyle you desire.
I’m not saying that any of these things are bad. You may get really excited about buying a house or raising kids and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that if it makes you happy.
But just because these ideals are ubiquitous, doesn’t necessarily mean that you must pursue them.
Most of the ideals people suggested I live by never resonated with me yet they still tried their hardest to convince me that I should pursue them thinking they’ll make me happy.
The things I’m passionate about are Simplicity, Art and Technology.
People may tell us that living with less is stupid.
Yes, I agree that Minimalism is counterintuitive but never stupid.
When you’ve seen people who have no time, tons of dept, poor health and crippled relationships all stemming from the mindless chaos of modern consumerist culture, I could never blame you for seeking a better philosophy.
Not everybody will agree with your lifestyle, but I encourage you to stand firm in your beliefs that less truly is more.
If you enjoyed my words, please visit technologyforminimalists.com or follow me on Twitter.
{If you’d like to learn more about minimalist living, please consider reading my book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide, or joining my email list.}
Great posting. My friends make comments to me when they visit that I have such a tidy space and it must be so easy to clean, it is. My turning point in the minimalism mind set was the emptying out of 4 homes in a year and a half either due to death or divorce. I became overwhelmed with stuff and decided then and there that less was what I wanted for my life. No more 2300 square feet of clutter…..now it’s 960 square feet of simple. I love it. Time to read, walk and nurture important relationships.
Hi Betsy
I can only imagine how difficult its must have been emptying 4 homes in such as short time. But I’m glad the experience helped you find what made you happy.
Just having time to read, walk and have mindful conversations with loved ones is something I too consider a blessing.
Thank you for commenting. :)
You are very fortunate that you found your truth early in life. I am retired and always felt pressured while working to do better, get more stuff, etc. No wonder I always felt I was never satisfied. Now I am downsizing and eventually moving to a much smaller residence that will be maintenance free on the outside. I have also put a time limit on Facebook and similar computer activity. I live close to several beaches and go there frequently, take walks in the parks, just sit on my patio and listen to the birds sing and pet my dogs. Life is so much better in the slow lane.
Hi Lana
I’m really glad that you’ve become aware of the things that make you happy.
I think you made a wise choice to be mindful of your Facebook and computer activity. Being able to read, write, share and be entertained using computers is great but we all know how distracting they can be from what’s important in life.
It’s unfortunate that so many people just don’t believe that they can be happy without spending money on things that don’t need that a big company convinced them that they should want.
Just seeing people like yourself who are free enough to enjoy the simple things in life like a walk down the beach or showing love for your pet dogs is enough to inspire me. :)
I liked your first blog post a lot on your blog! Did you just start your blog up or do you have more blog posts? If so, I would love to read all of your past posts!
I first started on my minimalist journey by wanting to get rid of my old dresser, which my mother and I have sold at our last garage sale to a wonderful family. <: I now have a smaller dresser which is just perfect to fit everything into it and I am well on my way in my minimalist journey as well. Mostly everything I own is in my bedroom and many little "piles" of organized stuff is placed throughout my bathroom and the kitchen. But I'm culling when I need to. ;D But I'm running out of things to get rid of, or have run out, because I purge regularly. But I love reading about minimalism because I am passionate about it. <3
Thank you for your wonderful story! I enjoyed reading it a lot! I wish you well on your minimalist journey! C:
Hey Marissa
Thank you very much for your kind and encouraging comments. I’m really grateful for you taking the time to read my words both here and on my blog.
My blog is new so the post you read was the only one so far but I’ve got more coming (as well as some guest posts for other minimalist blogs.) If you’d like to be notified, feel free to subscribe by email :)
It’s really good to meet people like yourself who are passionate about living with less, I believe that will make the world a better place. :)
Great story! When we feel empty, I believe that junk food, bad TV and couch sitting become more appealing. Great insights. Thank you.
Hi Sonja
I absolutely agree with you.
It’s almost always in their lower moments that people seek such instant gratification (with delayed side-effects).
But I think the opposite is true too.
That when people appreciate the simple things in life, there’s very little temptation for TV and junk food because you wouldn’t want your time wasted nor your energy zapped when they can be spent on something you love.
Thank you for commenting :)
Insightful and encouraging. Thank you :)
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, your time and attention is greatly appreciated :)
I am living the career woman, mother and wife role right now with a large home and all the amenities of suburban life, but you know what I am living without? Excess stuff and debt. You can have a 3,700 sq ft home filed with only the necessities and be at peace without feeling guilty if that is the life you want to live. I’m happy you found your simplicity, there is no reason to live in to a mold or keep up with the Jones’. I’m sure our paths will change as we go along life, as long as we enjoy the journey we are truly living, not just a means to an end. Good luck to you on your path…
Hey Muntaha
I think that you and your family living without excess stuff and dept and that haven’t conformed to the rest of society is admirable. is
One of the things I love abHey Muntaha
I think that you and your family living without excess stuff and dept and that you haven’t conformed with the rest of society is admirable.
One of the things I love about Minimalism is that it looks different for every person depending on what they value most.
I wish you the best of luck too :)out Minimalism is that it looks different for every person depending on what they value most.
I wish you the best of luck too :)
Many of the things I have were given to us over the years. I just took some sheets and towels out of the linen closet because it was looking full. I put them away with the winter blankets. We live on the fourth floor so I just started my annual ritual of putting my houseplants on the balcony to enjoy the warm weather. I have made cuttings and have a lot of plants to give away, too.
We are cleaning out our small 5×7 foot storage space. We do this because we need to fill a small suitcase with summer clothes and take out the fall and winter clothes. I have a bag of linens for the veterinarian. There are 2 bags for Goodwill. My friend is getting dishes for her church rummage sale. There are 2 bags of craft supplies and more houseplants to give away. I get a lot of things given to me and most gets recycled or passed on. I remember someone telling me they would run out of money in 2 weeks without a paycheck. I told a young friend today she should try to put away 5 years’ income.