Minimalism completely changes our perception of things, because living a simple life is always the most important thing—and even when pursuing this lifestyle involves making big changes, minimalism somehow helps ensure that these changes aren’t as complicated or difficult as they might be for some people. I feel that this is one of the things that has personally helped me the most.
Of course, when you work hard to acquire your material possessions, they become part of your life, and you naturally develop a special fondness for them because they’re the fruit of your efforts. But living a simple life also means appreciating what you have as a result of those efforts without losing sight of the fact that they’ll always be just that—material possessions—and that they shouldn’t take on a more important role than they deserve.
Personally, this has helped me avoid unnecessary suffering. For example, when our circumstances changed and we had to move out of our home, I didn’t suffer more than necessary over losing the things I’d worked so hard to obtain; instead, I felt free to leave them behind because, just as all material things can eventually be replaced, having to move to care for a sick family member or something similar is on a completely different level.
On the other hand, material possessions will never stop you from pursuing your dreams when you’re a minimalist. For example, you won’t give up on that trip you’ve been longing for just because you have things to take care of and don’t want anything to happen to them while you’re away. My husband and I love exploring new places, and although life and its responsibilities don’t currently allow us to do it as much as we’d like, we’ve learned over time to detach emotionally from our material possessions because anything can happen at any moment, and it’s not worth giving up the joy of what we have because of them.
On the other hand, I’ve also avoided letting it get me down. I’ve noticed that sometimes people, because they don’t have what everyone else has, get a little frustrated, so they spend too much of their lives striving with all their might to get something that’s been heavily advertised. And you clearly notice this shift in your mindset when you look around and see that everyone has different goals than yours, and most of them are related to having the latest phone or owning many more material possessions.
In my opinion, living a simple life frees you from so many things. The main one I’ve seen in my own life is the fact that I don’t suffer unnecessarily over things that are fleeting and temporary—and that anyone can have with money. Instead, I realize there are things that go far beyond the material world and are so valuable that they’re priceless because of their immense worth—and it’s for those things that living a simple life allows me to strive.
-Content entirely of my authorship and inspiration.
-Original text in Spanish, translated at DeepL.
-Personal photographs, taken with my Huawei p30 Lite Phone.
-Banners designed in Canva Pro.