I guess this thing called minimalism has been there for a very long time. Saw many videos and read a lot of articles about it since years ago but I was not a fan of it. How can you live with a small amount of item? How did you manage to survive with the same item over and over again? For me it does not make sense at all. At least for a couple years ago, until…
I found something interesting on youtube. There are a lot of videos from this person called Matt D’Avella and every video speaks about minimalism. I consume the video daily because there are a lot of them. He makes very interesting points on minimalism and for the first time I feel like this thing called minimalism is very interesting.
Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important — so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom. — The Minimalist
There are a lot of definition on minimalism and I think this one sums it all up. I used to think that minimalism means living with less stuffs, living with no television, living without any sort of kind of entertainments, and every negative things I could ever think of.
The fact is minimalism is not about the things you own but it is all about mindset. The mindset of pursuing what actually matters in your life. That means getting rid most of the things that are not align with our vision / purpose in life.
I have been ungrateful for many years in my life. Problems got in my way and they seem like a never ending waves that keep hitting me. The main problem that I got is basically a financial problems and it didn’t get any better. But despite of the financial problem I have, I keep wanting more stuffs in life. I want the “hypest” clothing out there and I am not even doubting my action of buying the newest and coolest clothes on the market even if I don’t even need them. I bought a watch that I don’t even need and I still regret spending money on the watch until now because I never wear the watch. I bought shoes just to be cool so that I could catch up with the latest trends. After everything that I bought I have no savings. Even without any savings I still want to buy stuffs (I know it is crazy).
So because I still have many things left to buy I decided to work really hard and earn money to buy those things. I used to work just to buy luxurious items in the futures. Buying all those expensive watches, expensive cars, expensive clothes, and many more. Those are my goal in life, I don’t really have any other goals beside buying stuffs.
The first thing I did after watching Matt’s videos is I reevaluate my goals. I sat down and think what should I do in life that will actually make an impact. I took some time off and start writing all of them down. For the first time in my life I have a very clear goal for my life. My goal is not all about “things” anymore but I have a goal bigger than that. Not only for myself but for others.
The second thing I do is I started to declutter most stuffs I owned. I am still doing it right now because I think most stuffs is valuable not in materials but in memories. I could not believe that I own a lot of unimportant things that I don’t even use. How much money did I spend on those things and how much impact can I do today with that amount of money.
There are a lot of things that happened to me after being a minimalist.
After being a minimalist I reduce the time of choosing which clothes should I wear today, which pants should I wear today, which shoes, and which everything else. I used to take some times to choose which thing I should wear because there are to many choices. By being a minimalist, living with less stuffs it is really easy to decide on things.
As ironic as it sounds, we can totally achieve more things by living with less. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by things that are in your life? I have. I used to live with too much activities that is totally unimportant. By being a minimalist I choose which activities to do that are aligning with my bigger goals.
Doing more stuffs doesn’t mean you will achieve more. Doing less but important stuffs will have a bigger impact.
How many times have you ever said yes even to the things that does not make you excited at all? How many times others’ priorities become your priorities? We should totally avoid these kind of things in our life.
As I told you earlier, I am usually not grateful for everything in my life. I used to compare myself to others. I used to feel like I don’t have much in life. Things that I wanted to buy is the things that make me ungrateful. I used to think that buying more stuffs and having more “luxurious” stuffs can increase my happiness. In fact it does not even related to my happiness.
When I became a minimalist I get rid of that thought. The first thing that I did is by unfollowing many accounts related to sneakers, clothes, and any other things that make me craved for more. I can’t believe I am a lot happier now and I am so grateful for every little things in my life.
I usually get bored with the things that I do. I do many stuffs because I love learning new stuffs. I never get into something so deep. I usually stop until I feel like I can do it “pretty good”. That is why I don’t have any clear goal before. I am distracted by many things in my life. I want to pursue everything in my life. I guess that is not how life works. You were born with a purpose. You can’t be good at everything in life. After being a minimalist I tried to be honest with my self. What is my passion and what are the things that I want to do for the rest of my life. I do believe in the power of focus. When you focus on creating things and improving on what you are good at, you can be unstoppable.
“There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little.” — Jackie French Koller
I hope that this articles can help you in a lot of ways. Don’t be a minimalist when it comes to the clap! Do things you love and don’t forget to be grateful every day! 🤘🏻
Here are Matt D’Avella Youtube Channe land The Minimalist Website Matt D'Avella The Minimalists