I can’t recall the exact moment that I decided to actively
look into different approaches to life but before I knew it I was looking
further afield for inspiration and motivation to change.
What I stumbled upon first was minimalism. I knew about
minimalism of course, but as a consummate purchaser with a borderline hoarder
husband it wasn’t a lifestyle that I had ever really considered reading more
about.
Now, I found myself reading Becoming Minimalist and The Minimalists.
I downloaded Clutterfree with Kids, Everything that Remains and Minimalism.
What I discovered is that minimalism as a lifestyle really has two parts – the part where you eliminate all the excess stuff from your life
and the part where you then use the new found time available to you to
prioritise what is important to you and what adds value to your life. The theory seems to go that if you
eliminate distractions from your life (in the case of minimalism, your
possessions) then there is the time and the ability to prioritise your passions
and what is really important to you.
In a way, what I was reading about minimalism was reminiscent of what I
think Marie Kondo was trying to say in her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – if
you keep only those possessions that spark joy and eliminate the excess then
you have more time available to you because you are spending less time
maintaining your possessions.
What I was reading really resonated with me.
I want my children to feel loved, to have a strong sense of
self and place and to value people over possessions. It occurred to me that by
eliminating all of the distractions from my life (so far as was possible) I would be able to give my time,
wholeheartedly, to my family and in doing so be able to achieve my goals.
In this way, I would say that minimalism was what connected
that first step of tidying my home with a desire to me more mindful in everyday
life.I had already started the decluttering process and so I began to think about what other distractions existed in my life and what I could do to be rid of them.
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