Minimalism: What Is A Minimalist Lifestyle?

Architect and author John Pawson says that “minimalism, more than architecture, is a way of life”.
Minimalism: What is a minimalist lifestyle?

A lifestyle, that’s exactly how some people have come to understand minimalism. In this connection, they created a platform to teach about the minimalist lifestyle.

The platform we refer to is called The Minimalists, where participants try to find meaning in life. How? Well, for example, they generate options for our material needs that are generated by advertising.

What is a minimalist lifestyle?

According to minimalists, today we live in an overly stimulating world. In addition, many of these stimuli come from ads that will make us buy more and more things. This means that they make us believe that we need more things to feel good about ourselves.

According to minimalism, we get heavier with each new purchase we make. That is, our emotional plan becomes overloaded, and we begin to lose our freedom as human beings.

Couples on a shopping trip.

Therefore, the creators of the minimalist lifestyle, Ryan Nicodemus and Fields Millburn, define this way of life as a tool that serves as a catalyst to get rid of abundance. Why should we do this? We should do it so that we can focus on what is important and the things that really lead to happiness, freedom and satisfaction.

If you are interested in minimalism, there are a number of characteristics that define this lifestyle. They are based on a simple idea: to eliminate material and artificial needs, put them in the background of our lives, and focus on ourselves.

Minimalism: Eliminating unnecessary things

Minimalism means eliminating everything in our lives that is not absolutely necessary. If you have stored useless ornaments and souvenirs, you should get rid of things you do not need. Empty that space so you can fill it with things that will actually improve your quality of life.

More traditional wisdom reminds us that dependence on material things makes us slaves. When we collect things, we waste time cleaning and tidying up these objects. There is a lot of wasted time that we could have spent on useful measures. For that reason, minimalists are happy to have empty drawers and cabinets. They eliminate things they do not need.

Get rid of the addiction to your things

Sometimes we get attached to our things. This is one of the reasons why we have such a hard time throwing things away. It is true that our things are full of memories. However, minimalism is not afraid to remind us that in reality the memories are in our minds and the people we shared them with, not in material things.

Minimalists agree that we must focus on the future, not the past. Therefore, instead of being attached to things, we should be attached to people who start with ourselves.

Order and simplicity at home

Minimalists also emphasize the importance of having an organized and neat home where simplicity is the dominant theme. Everything we own should have a specific use and a specific place to be. Keeping an item in the same place makes it easier to find it, since you always know where it will be.

Minimalism at home.

Control the consumer in you

Another important aspect of minimalism is controlling how and what we buy. We have to be careful with our purchases since we sometimes buy useless things.

Minimalists also believe that in order to get a new thing for our home, another thing must give way. If something you own is useless to you, you should sell or donate it. Do not let this thing sit around and collect dust in your home.

Minimalism and digitization

Another idea minimalists go for is digitization. These spokespersons use technology to store photo albums, invoices, letters and tickets, among other things. For example, we can scan an image onto a computer or a stylus and then discard the material object.

Other alternatives to minimalism

There are other options that minimalists like to market. As you can imagine, they all have the same idea of ​​simplifying life and letting go of material possessions.

  • Simplify technology. That is, do not have a mobile phone, music player, laptop and desktop computer… Try to combine everything in the smallest possible number of devices.
  • Check the amount of information you use. Since we are exposed to a lot of stimuli throughout the day, it is easy to lose focus on the things that really matter. Instead of being informed about what is actually going on in the world, we are lost in consumption.
  • Select commitments. Do not waste your time on dates and meetings that will not matter to you. We must use our time wisely and be more productive. To do that, we sometimes have to put our foot down and just say no.
  • Accumulating experiences instead of objects is another major goal of this lifestyle.
  • Finally, minimalists emphasize the importance of controlling our minds and focusing on what really matters while seeking emotional balance.

This is the minimalist lifestyle. To learn to live in the present and direct ourselves towards the future. To enjoy small experiences and just get us the most necessary things. Does this sound interesting to you?

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