I have known the concept of minimalism for a couple of years now, but it was not until recently that I realized that my current way of seeing things coincides a lot with this philosophy of life.
Explained in a simple and colloquial way, minimalism is a life stance that emphasizes having only what we really need and / or means something to us, and invites us to put aside everything that we do not really need to have a full life . It doesn't necessarily mean living with the bare minimum, as that can vary greatly from one person to another, and although some minimalists do, that is not the essence of minimalism in itself.
In a time of consumerism and programmed obsolescence, where we are bombarded all the time to buy, and doing so is sold to us almost as a synonym of happiness, minimalism invites us to stop for a moment and reflect on our lives, to evaluate our priorities, and redirect our energies to what really matters and is worthwhile for us.
There are so many things we have that we don't really need. And to get them we often go into debt. Do we really need a new car, a new cell phone, a new computer, when the ones we have still work without problems and meet our needs?
Is it really so important to always buy clothes that are in fashion, but that in three months we will no longer wear because another will be in fashion? Do we really need so many pairs of shoes, bags, accessories? Questions like these may sound absurd to some, but have you ever wondered?
The sad reality is that many of us live by inertia and never stop to evaluate our lives. And yes, it is true that not all of us can have the life we would like, that we have to work, fulfill our responsibilities and so on, that is not in dispute. But have you ever wondered what you spend that hard-earned money on? Have you ever wondered if you can do something to be happier? Or worse, have you wondered what makes you happy and why?
I asked myself these questions, and in fact I keep asking myself since things in the office started to go from bad to worse, and now that I am in a period of work transition I keep asking myself all the time. And I've found that there are a lot of absurd expenses that I did that I don't really need to do anymore, and in fact it never made sense for me to do, but I never realized it until now.
Buy a coffee machine just because it was a bargain, although I have never been much to drink coffee, it never made sense, and start buying the capsules to prepare it, even less, when I have a traditional coffee maker that I do not use much. Buying me some light blue tennis shoes that I loved and that I hardly ever wear, when I already had almost a dozen tennis shoes of various models, types and colors, it did not make sense and still does not have it, and so I could tell you about many useless expenses that I have made in the past and now I try to avoid.
Becoming a minimalist takes time, it is not about ordering your things, but about reviewing and evaluating them all to only stay with what is really important, and that takes time, months. It is also about ordering them, finding a place for all of them, their place, and that takes even longer, but it is a very interesting, very instructive journey, and one that makes you reevaluate not only your possessions but your lifestyle and your priorities. .
I'm just getting started on this, but hopefully I can complete it one day so I can say that I'm already a minimalist. I hope I can share my progress, my stumbles and the lessons learned here. Until then.
©bonzopoe, 2021.
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