Minimalism entered the trends quite recently, but the concept came from the visual art that emerged in the United States in the 60s – from visual and musical to the understanding of architecture, design, and the perception of space.
At some point in the late 20th century, as is often the case, the current began to go beyond art – the values of minimalism began to penetrate everyday life. With the rapid change of various subcultures spreading minimalism, the first fans of the simplified approach to life emerged, such as Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus. They created podcasts, books, and films about minimalism.
What Is Minimalism?
If we talk about visual art, everything is simple: minimalism is a style characterized by the brevity of expressive means, simplicity, precision, and clarity of composition.
But what if we apply minimalism not to art but life? Then it turns out that minimalism is a tool that helps people think about what gives their lives real value. It is clearing the clutter out of life, making room for the most important aspects of life: health, relationships, growth, goals, and desired contributions to the world.
You have to understand that minimalism is different for everyone. So whether you’re a 40-year-old housewife or a 25-year-old start-up owner, you can keep your minimalist lifestyle, and that’s the value of this movement.
While modern culture focuses on “more”: more shopping, more possessions, more money, more news, minimalism is about “less”: quality, not quantity; owning only what we really need and value. And remember, minimalism is not just about yourself and your ego. If sustainable development means anything to you, you are probably already a minimalist at heart. After all, our planet has limited resources, and everyone can’t own an infinite number of things. If the entire planet had an American level of consumption, it wouldn’t last for decades. Besides, minimalism is also a sharing economy, and that is a sustainable future.
How Does Minimalism Improve Life?
The famous Mark Zuckerberg is a true minimalist, and he has repeatedly stated that he strives to minimize making insignificant decisions as much as possible. Thus, all minimalists consciously remove unnecessary things from their daily lives to focus on meaningful things.
Let’s think about what you, dear readers, can do today to get closer to a minimalist lifestyle?
I have highlighted 3 main aspects of life that can be improved:
- Possession, Сonsumption and Finances
These physical and abstract things: clothes, accessories, a million social media subscriptions, or just a closet full of junk, all of them subconsciously put pressure on your brain. Remember that feeling of freedom after you’ve cleaned your room, washed the dishes, or dealt with your emails? But cleaning up is not enough; it’s all about the system. If you get rid of things once but don’t change your habits, you’ll have to sort them all out again after a while – so it’s worth preparing for.
- Sort through all your stuff with the question, “Do I really need this, or can I do without it (can I rent or borrow it)?”
- Organize a box labeled “?”, throw things in there that you’re not sure about, hide that box after cleaning, and if in 3 months you don’t remember any of those “?” things, feel free to throw them away.
- If you have a lot of printed documents – scan them and upload them to the cloud.
- Make it a habit to ask yourself the question “Do I need this?” with every new purchase. Of course, this should happen subconsciously, but if you find it very difficult, you can simply take a few days to think about your new purchase.
- Create wish lists or shopping limits for a certain category, such as clothing, alcohol, or sweets. This little tip is good for limiting yourself, so you know what you want and don’t make impulse purchases if you’re prone to it.
- Keep track of your finances. In the 21st century, data is valuable, and information that you can get from it is even more precious, so why not take advantage of it? There are enough services to link your cards, analyze your expenses’ statistics, and make valid conclusions.
- Mental Freedom and Health
There is a direct correlation between external actions and what goes on inside your head. So if you haven’t learned how to live consciously, just a clean apartment won’t help you much. Practice living in the moment and give your brain the freedom to launch new ideas. Don’t forget about sports; it has been, is, and will always be important.
- Keep a sleep schedule and get a calm sleep.
- Try to meditate.
- Exercise in the morning.
- Do sports 2-3 times a week.
- Organize your life.
- Manage your habits.
- Don’t focus on the opinions of others and be yourself.
- Nutrition and the Right Diet
Food is your fuel, and it determines the condition of your body. So systematize your meals as much as possible, but allow yourself to cook something spontaneous from time to time.
- Determine a basic set of your foods: look at their types, nutrients, expiration dates, and acceptable frequency of intake. With a plan like this, it’s much easier to plan for future cooking, and you won’t have to toss forgotten foods out of the fridge.
- Determine 30-40 possible meals to prepare: there may be different combinations of the same foods. Why so many? So you don’t get bored.
- Start cooking “in bulk” – in other words, prepare several meals at once – it makes life easier and saves time.
Conclusion
In any case, most of you have already used some of the tips from this article, and it proves that the ideas of minimalism are down-to-earth. Of course, this is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but just a different outlook on life that will help many of you share and reevaluate your life. I hope my article was helpful to you and inspired you to change your life for the better!
