A couple of years ago, I had no bearing in life. I allowed the wind to push me in any and all directions. The people I surrounded myself with had questionable characters, and sure enough, it began to rub off on me.
If I was invited anywhere, I would say yes before even figuring out if I wanted to go. Because of this, I frequented clubs and house parties. Deep down, as I would attend these events, my inner self constantly asked me why I was doing this.
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I never felt truly at peace or even safe in them. But because I was far away from home, I had no one to essentially push me in the right direction. This went on for quite a while—years. Until I eventually started to reap the repercussions of my actions, my grades began to slip.
This threatened to pull me into a slight depressive state. It was during this phase that I got to do some much-needed introspection. I did an audit of my life and came to realize that my circle was a lot crowded. Crowded with the wrong people too.
This was kind of the origin of my minimalism journey. I had an epiphany; I realized that my life needed some structure and decongestion. So I began by creating a routine and sticking to it.
In my routine, I made sure to center myself and to list the important stuff like my studies and spirituality as top priority, while everything else came second. This one action naturally led me to a state of purging. I suddenly felt the need to get rid of the unnecessary entities in my life, be it material possessions or even people.
This helped me to put things into perspective. It wasn’t easy at first, as I was going from having no discipline or direction to suddenly having to follow a routine. I struggled in the first few weeks, and there were times I wanted to quit. But I always reminded myself of why I began.
Slowly but surely, I started to shed off the dead weight. Unnecessary friendships became strained and eventually died out, my closet got lighter and airy, and my mind became more peaceful; all of a sudden I could think more clearly.
I went through a period of loneliness after losing the people that weren’t supposed to be in my life. And strangely, I didn’t mind it. I was at peace with myself. Soon enough, though, I found my people—the right crowd.
Interacting with them and being in their presence felt right. Minimalism helped me find some pretty amazing people through embracing myself and being mindful in my interactions. It also helped me prioritize quality over quantity in these relationships.
Another side effect of decluttering my life was that I suddenly had time to spend with loved ones, family, and friends. This has helped me tremendously because I managed to build a community of friends around myself and a circle that I can rely on when it comes down to it.
Being part of a genuine community is a repellent for depression and sadness, I’ve noticed.
So yeah, minimalism has been critical to the progress and success of my social life.
Images used are mine...