The benefits of minimalism

3 years ago I moved out for the first time from my family house, ready to leave my home country and live a new adventure. While packing my stuff, I realised that I was owning a huge amount of things. I was owning way more than what I need in my everyday life. A bunch of objects, clothes and items, that I’ve never even used before or that are double or triple in my shelves.

That was the moment when I started googling about minimalism. When we talk about adopting minimalism as a lifestyle, we shouldn’t think about giving up every modern conveniences and live in a cabin in the woods, without plumbing, internet connection or electricity. Being a minimalist is much more simple than this.

Minimalism means different things for different people. But in general, being a minimalist means having a simple living. It means that you are more mindful of new purchases: instead of getting everything you want, you just buy what you need. This means that you buy only things that add values to your life.

Every person can decide how much of a minimalist lifestyle you want to add to your routine: some people starts just buy getting rid of extra stuff they own and after some time, they start adopting this new lifestyle for the rest of their life. For others can be just a phase. Minimalism can be a short experience or a new way of living. There are no rules to follow, everybody can have a different approach to it. And if you decide to start changing your habits, remember that not all the people that live in the same house with you are forced to follow your same style of living. You can create your own minimal space while respecting your flatmates lifestyle.   

But why should I give it a try?

Because it’s easy. Thanks to new technologies is now easy to not have a lot of extra things around the house. Computers and smartphones replace the need for papers, photos, cd’s, dvd’s, books, calendars, calculators, newspapers, etc. Everything is easily accessible from your device.

So many things have been replaced and much more will be in the future! This means less objects that will end up in the environment. The environmental concern is another reason why you should consider minimalism. If you buy less, you will have less trash. And if less things are bought, less natural resources are used to produce these items that are not really needed.

Minimalism will help you to focus on what is important to you. When your house is less messy, you have less distractions. Minimalism is giving you the time and the space to learn new things and share them with the others. You will have more time for yourself and you will soon realize what is important to you and what is not.

Buying less means spending less. Student life forces us a bit, to live on a budget and to think about how should we spend it. Less shopping means more money saved to spend on what really fulfil you, like travelling, food or memory-creating experiences.

Minimalism is time-saving. Living with less stuff makes your cleaning process faster and easier. And since you don’t have to spend hours anymore dusting and vacuuming the house, you have more free time to do things that you enjoy.

Your life will be less stressful. A minimalist room would give you more space to breathe. You will not have to spend time anymore on keeping up with trends, repair and make storage for things that you don’t need. But you will have more time to be productive and more energy to enjoy things that really matter.

The last reason but not the least, is finding happiness. Many people try to find happiness in their possessions. They think that having the latest smartphone or buying branded clothes will make them satisfied. But the reality is that happiness is hidden in way different places: spending time doing what you enjoy the most, relationships, friendships, a stress less routine, social causes, etc. Minimalism gives you time, space and freedom to cultivate your true self and cultivate sincere relationships with the people you have around.

Picture from: https://unsplash.com/photos/x2Tmfd1-SgA