Minimalism: Get Rid Of Things To Make Room In Your Head
Look around you and count the things you see. Do you feel that you have collected many things? More than what you need?
Are you one of those people who carries a huge bag that you haven’t seen the bottom of in a long time? Do you have clothes that you haven’t worn in over a year? Kitchen supplies you only used once?
We live in a world where it’s normal to collect more items than we need, from office supplies to clothes and shoes, makeup and tools… And the list goes on.
These properties take up physical space in our home and cause our closets, boxes, chests, and shoe racks to become overcrowded. But the worst part is that they also take up mental space and time because we have to classify, sort and clean them.
There is a philosophy of life that can help you see and manage that collection in a different way – this is minimizing. Minimalism isn’t about having less, it’s about making room for the things that really matter.
What is minimalism?
Minimalism is a philosophy of life that proposes reducing the material objects we own to the minimum.
The idea is to live with only the things that are most necessary, which is different for everyone. The idea is to have fewer things so that we have more physical and mental space.
If we reflect on why we keep items that we don’t use, we will find that there are many emotional reasons for this and the typical “maybe I’ll need it someday” will also return. Clothes, gifts, cards and the like that we can’t get rid of because they remind us of past times in our lives, as if they have stored the memories.
Minimalism is an exercise that helps us let go of material things, realizing that the memories live on in us and not in the objects.
How to put minimalism into practice
Ideally, you start little by little, dividing the items by area and identifying what you really need, which items you’re not sure you need, and which ones you can definitely get rid of.
- In the kitchen: What kitchen utensils have I not used in over a year? Do I really need all those jars of herbs?
- In the closet: Which items of clothing or shoes I no longer like or haven’t worn in a year?
- In the office: Do I have old notebooks, diaries, notes or other things that I never look at again?
Or turn the minimalist project into a challenge using these examples:
Project 333
Project 333 encourages you to choose 33 items of clothing (you don’t have to get rid of the rest, just set them aside) and use only those items for a while.
By doing this you will discover how few items of clothing we actually need and not just that. We also save time because we don’t have to think long about what to wear every morning.
Minimalist contest
Or team up with someone else who has the same goal and make it a competition. The first day of each month you each have to get rid of one thing, the second day two things, the third day three and so on, until the thirtieth day. Whoever lasts the longest wins.
Once you’ve figured out which items you can afford to lose, you can donate them or sell them to thrift stores.
Benefits of minimalism
- It helps keep the house clean and tidy, free of “mess”.
- We save time by not having to search our cabinets, clean the silverware we don’t use, and so on. It also takes less time to decide what to wear.
- We learn to let go of material things and that the memories in our lives.
- It makes us more open to the future, because we don’t get attached to objects from the past.
- It makes us freer. We have fewer expenses if we move or want to travel.
- It makes us more aware of what we consume, which also saves on ourselves and the environment.
- And above all, it helps us become aware of what is really important, which are rarely material things.
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the things you have collected, is it difficult for you to find something or do you feel like you are wasting a lot of time organizing or cleaning your belongings, then I encourage you to try to introduce this philosophy into your life. Minimalism is a direct path to mental peace.
