Discovering Minimalist Living
Yesterday I came across a fascinating youtube video on minimalist living, and de-cluttering your life.
The woman on the TED talk was explaining how she felt happier by getting rid of all of her items, and moving abroad.
Well that’s a bit extreme for many people, and I am not sure that is what I want to do, but it sparked my curiosity about minimalist living.
What I did next was seek out further youtube videos on minimalist living lifestyles, and those who have embraced it.
I came across a quote from the Victorian designer William Morris. In the quote Morris advised that people should only have objects in their homes, that are either useful or beautiful.
This quote resonates deeply with me, and I wish I had heard it before.
Take a look around your own home, and think in terms of the above advice.
Are you keeping items in your home because it is useful or beautiful.
If it is neither useful or beautiful then why are you keeping it?
Personally I have realised that I have too much stuff, that is neither useful, or beautiful.
Why do we keep stuff, instead of be Minimalist?
As I am new to minimalist living, I have not had a great deal of time to consider this question.
My initial thoughts are that personal items are like comfort blankets, to a nervous child.
The media can often portray the world as a scary place, which it can be.
Perhaps we hoard items as a way of feeling protected and safer.
They say that the human mind is like an iceberg, namely that only a small part (the conscious part) is visible.
What goes on within our unconscious mind is a fascinating subject, but could have an influence on many peoples need for things.
Personally I feel uncomfortable about getting rid of my ‘things’.
Take for instance my cars, of which I have three.
Car one is a comfortable road legal car that I can get to places in.
Car two is an old Italian sports coupe, that is beautiful, but has sat in my garage for over 5 years.
Car three is an old ‘people carrier’ , that is very useful, but not road legal at present.
Car Three
In fact car three has not been on the road for over 1.5 years now.
Car three is kept because it has little value, is (in theory) useful and as a spare car.
At least that is what I tell myself about car three.
Car three is a symbol of the clutter in my life.
As I look around my house, I see so many items that I don’t use, but keep for ‘just in-case’.
Car three is neither useful (its not road legal), nor beautiful (its an original shape Citroen Picasso).
Email Clutter
My minimalist living journey also extends to my digital life.
One aspect of clutter is emails.
If you are anything like me, then you do not act immediately on every email you receive.
Instead we maybe take a quick look at them, and then move onto the next one.
Despite meaning to deal with emails later, they often just get forgotten about.
In my quest for a more minimalist lifestyle, I have carried out an audit of my email accounts.
I currently have four personal email accounts, and four business email accounts, that’s eight in total!
Further Thoughts
This blog post is the start of a personal journey, and will be expanded as my minimalist living journey progresses.
To be continued……
Twitter: @acraigmiles
Further reading about minimalist living on other external websites:
What Is Minimalism?