minimalism.

The idea of minimalism intrigues me very much. I started awhile back to clean out my room of clutter and then I found a blog written by a minimalist; I liked what she wrote and decided to research more into it. Definition: Simple living encompasses a number of different voluntary practices to simplify one’s lifestyle. These may include reducing one’s possessions or increasing self-sufficiency, for example. Simple living may be characterized by individuals being satisfied with what they need rather than want (“From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia”) . The idea of simple living, minimalism, turns me on a lot. I don’t think that anyone should be attached to materialistic things at all. Those aren’t the things important in life, they do not last forever. Even though it is wrong many humans are victims of just that, attached to materialistic objects. Objects not needed in life but wanted.

The idea of getting rid of everything in my life that I do not need/want or think is beautiful sounds wonderful. If I do this then I will have a ton of more time to focus on the important things in my life.  My family, school, and myself; the three most important things in my life right now at this moment. If I want to become a minimalist I think I should start by clearing out the space that I control right now, my room. I have done a good job but there is so much more that I have and that I don’t need or use at all; I can and will get rid of these things this weekend. The second thing that I can think of is getting rid of all social networks. I’m not going to get rid of my blog but things like apps like Twitter and Instagram?  I waste so much of my time on social websites, it is truly unhealthy and not productive at all.  I feel like deleting accounts would just take so much stress off of me, not having to keep up and not having to deal with others. Back to getting rid of objects; my phone and laptop are staying. I could do without the flat screen because I don’t watch that much television but realistically I need my laptop for school, I need my phone for pretty much everything else. I am saying need for this situation but if the world was ending and we were talking about things I need for survival then no, I wouldn’t need my laptop or phone.

For me needing my phone and laptop I am in no way, shape, or form going to be considering myself a minimalist. I am simply just trying to follow a little part of a minimalists lifestyle. I read somewhere that minimalist buy for the quality and not quantity, I think that the above makes sense. I would rather pay the extra buck for something that is made better then something that is not. Having nice things? I’ve read a lot that because of downsizing and not having a lot of possessions, the possessions minimalist do have are nice, I understand that, that is okay and it also makes sense to me. I too would rather have for example, an iPhone then four old school brick phones (forgive me for my horrible example).

Even if I don’t stick to anything that I have just spoken about it is worth a try. I should not, and don’t want to be attached to any materialistic objects. I want to stop wasting my time on idiotic things and start to focus on more important things in my life.  So much stress would be relieved if I could stay and accomplish the things mentioned above, it would truly be enjoyable. Even though I am usually not a person fond of change, I believe this change would be for the better and then after awhile it would not be change anymore but yet would become normal. I’m not scared to try something new in life, I look forward to this.