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diff --git a/src/blog/2024/09/03-my-journey-to-minimalism/cover.jpg b/src/blog/2024/09/03-my-journey-to-minimalism/cover.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab9a78b Binary files /dev/null and b/src/blog/2024/09/03-my-journey-to-minimalism/cover.jpg differ diff --git a/src/blog/2024/09/03-my-journey-to-minimalism/index.md b/src/blog/2024/09/03-my-journey-to-minimalism/index.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e91016b --- /dev/null +++ b/src/blog/2024/09/03-my-journey-to-minimalism/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,81 @@ +--- +title: My Journey to Minimalism +cover: cover.jpg +excerpt: Over the past few years I decided to declutter my life. This is a short insight about what I have already achieved and what is planned for the future. +date: 2024-09-03 +tags: + - personal + - minimalism +--- + +What do I actually need in my life? This question, coupled with my circumstances at the time, led me to embark on a meaningful journey towards minimalism. In this post I want to share how it all began, how it is going and where my current goals are. I hope you enjoy reading this and perhaps even find some tips and motivation. This might as well become a small series in the future. + +## What is minimalism? + +Minimalism is a lifestyle philosophy that emphasizes simplicity and the removal of excess. It focuses on prioritizing what truly matters by decluttering both physical and mental spaces, promoting a life centered around intentionality and mindfulness. + +In terms of living, minimalism encourages creating a home and personal life with fewer possessions but greater meaning. This often involves streamlining belongings, choosing quality over quantity, and embracing functional, aesthetically simple decor. In personal life, it might mean prioritizing meaningful experiences over material gains, fostering deeper relationships, and maintaining a clear, uncluttered schedule. By focusing on essentials, minimalism aims to reduce stress and enhance overall well-being. + +## How it all started for me + +I was first introduced to the word “minimalism” and what it actually meant a few years ago. At first I didn’t think about it much but since the day I learned about it, it lived in my head and led me to see my life with different eyes. Every now and then, I noticed thoughts like “Do I really need this?”, “When did I actually use this thing the last time?” or “I felt burned out because there was too much of everything. I didn’t want to face these tasks.”. + +That last thought especially led me to a more negative and depressing way of living. Having too much—choosing quantity over quality—can seriously affect your mental health. I felt exhausted being in my own apartment even if I didn’t do anything. Don’t get me wrong here, my apartments never looked super chaotic or full of stuff from floor to ceiling but I still acquired a lot of belongings over the years. It burned me out. + +Around 2018/19 I was living in a small one room apartment and during this period I decided to do something about my anti-minimalist-life. Taking action felt good as soon as I began sorting through my belongings and deciding what I want to keep and what to sell or throw away but it didn’t take long until I realized that decluttering your life is pretty exhausting too. Not so much in a physical way, as long as you don’t throw out the heavy duty furniture, but the whole progress of deciding what you want to get rid of. This is especially true for items with sentimental value. + +## How I decide what to keep and what to throw away + +The hardest part of starting a minimalist life is probably choosing what to keep and what to throw away or sell. The latter being even harder because keeping things is something we are already used to, that’s what brought me to my situation—having stuff and keeping it. + +Let me tell you upfront: Getting rid of things is a progress, you won’t get rid of everything right away. Every time you start a new “throw-out-session” it will be more and more and you will have a new perspective, so never give up if you feel unsatisfied after your first few sessions, it will get easier. + +I don’t remember where I read it but when I started I kept asking myself 3 questions every time I was holding something in my hands, decided what to do with this item: + + + +### 1. Do I really need this? +I want to figure out if this item has an actual use case in my life and if it makes my life better in any way. + +### 2. When was the last time I used this? +Checking when I last needed this item and also how often I need it helps tremendously in my decision process. + +### 3. How much would it cost me to get it again if I throw it away? +This is true in terms of effort, finance and time. I want to check if any of these points are off limits and would prevent me from throwing it away. + +These questions helped me a lot when I started and they still help me today. It’s a very good starting point but I realized that I would never end up in a situation I wished for, it always felt like I didn’t do enough. This is exactly what I was talking about earlier. Every time I was starting a new session I threw away things I kept during the last session because I realized my thought process about this specific item was wrong the last time, I do not need it. + +## Selling vs. Throwing away + +When I decided to get rid of an item I always thought about selling it or to throw it away. I think selling something makes more sense most of the time because it can still be of value for another person. This thought might be very positive but can backfire sometimes. Selling something means you have to keep it until it is sold, so the items I wanted to sell were still stuck in my apartment. That was not my plan, so how to fix this? + +I set myself a time limit for selling things, if the item is not sold within this limit I would give it away for free or throw it away. A lot of people in my area place things they don’t want outside in a box for others to take. So this might be a last resort before throwing something useful away. I didn’t want to clutter the neighborhood though, so I rarely put things in a box outside. + +So, my priority is: selling first, then gifting, and finally throwing away. + +## Impact on my life + +After the first couple of months, on and off decluttering my life, I finally felt the impact it had. Coming home felt like a relief, having less things meant less things to worry about, less things to worry about lead to a much more relaxed life. I was absorbing this feeling to the fullest. It boosted my motivation and made me addicted to the whole minimalist lifestyle. + +For me, it is not only about having the least amount of things but rather steering my life towards a happier path. Soon after making progress for the first time I thought about other areas of my life where less would be more. It took me one glance at my phone to see my next target. + +## Digital Minimalism + +No matter where we are, no matter what time it is or how busy we are, we always carry our phones nowadays. For me, this feels like carrying a “worry-package” at all times. Vibrations, sounds, notifications, mails & messages. It is all there, the whole time, distracting you from the world around you. There must be a way to make this tool less distracting, I thought. Here are some things that I started doing so far to transform this “worry-package” into a “don’t-worry-so-much-package” that would actually help me tackle my tasks and not distract me all the time. + +### 1. Uninstall apps +I don’t know about you but I had a lot of apps on my phone. Just like I had random things in my drawers at home, that I would rarely or never use. I started deleting all these apps that I don’t need and decided what to keep and what not by following the [same questions](#questions) I asked myself in terms of my apartment. Having only the tools you really need makes my phone much more valuable for my life again. + +### 2. Disable notifications +Notifications can be useful but they can also be the devil. There are good ones and bad ones. Probably more of the latter. It is good to be reminded that there is an important appointment today but not so much if there is a person liking my post on Instagram. I’m still in the progress of figuring out which Notifications I want to keep and which I don’t. This decision process is much easier for me because you don’t really miss out on anything. If you want to get the news, you can always check manually. + +### 3. Sorting data +Our phones are the go to camera for most of us. For this reason we collect hundreds if not thousands of picture over time. This not only consumes storage space but also fills our live with a lot of stuff we don’t actually need. Think about it, so many pictures you took but you will, most likely, never look at again. Same goes for pictures being sent to you via messenger. I rarely checked my “Whats App Images”-folder and was surprised how full it was, full of shit, when I finally scrolled through. Deleting all of this and sorting the rest in folders to keep it nice and clean helped me a lot. I regularly do this now, and I also move folders to my PC hard drive if I don’t need them on my phone at all times. + +## What’s planned for the future? + +I will keep decluttering my life, no matter where and I can’t wait for all the moments of feeling good. I can highly recommend this to anyone struggling or feeling weird while being at home. Do something against it, do something for you! It will make your life less stressful and might make you a happier person. You will re-learn how to live in the moment and see what is really important in life because there is less things to worry about, less stress and more time to absorb what really matters. + +I’m currently reading the German translation of “[Goodbye, Things - On Minimalist Living](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Goodbye_Things/_psIDgAAQBAJ)” by Fumio Sasaki. And I plan to read even more books on this topic, it helps me stay on track and focus on what I what to achieve in the future. + +I am more than happy to take you with me on this journey. There will be more follow up posts about this topic as soon as I have more to tell you. I also want to dedicate a page about this topic on my website. Thanks for reading, and I hope I’ve been able to improve your life, even just a little, with my words and thoughts. \ No newline at end of file