I have been on my Minimalism journey for about six years now and it has changed a lot of things in my life. I was drawn to the idea of simplifying my life because I really wanted to have more space and to have more intentionality with the things I own. Even beyond the concept of just simply decluttering personal stuff has given me so much space which in turn, I started this blog that helped me in my journey in simplifying my mind.
I have been exploring ways in pursuit of developing my personal tranquility. As a mental health advocate and practitioner, it is proper that I apply the things I discover to myself first. Here are some things I have learned from becoming a minimalist that has helped me live a life of peace and joy.
Minimalism has helped me become more present
Minimalism has helped me remain grounded in the here and now. I have discovered that most of my anxious thoughts are coming from my desire to predict the future with absolute certainty. There have been a lot of things that I want to do and to be, but I can only exist in a single time and space. I realized that I cannot live both in the future and in the present at the same time. My worries can easily swallow up what is in front of me and I can easily get distracted by looking ahead.
Mindful with my relationships
Minimalism has helped me define clear boundaries around my life. I have learned to understand that I only have limited time each day and I can only spend it on the things that are truly valuable to me. I can only meet a few friends at a specific time and I can do as much as I can in my capacity.
Before I discovered minimalism, I have grown myself too thin because of trying to be available to everyone around my social circle. I get easily frustrated and disappointed as well if I don’t get reciprocated as much as I have been giving them. I have learned that being intentional in my relationships is very important because I only have a limited capacity to spend it with the one’s who truly matter to me.
Mindful with Time
Mindfulness of time has helped me regain my time for myself. I used to fill my calendar with events, meeting various people and doing stuff. Minimalism has helped me realize that time is a non-renewable resource. I can only spend time and take time. Yet, there is no way I can earn it.
This is when I realize that time management is not actually a thing because we all have twenty-four hours in a day. Hence, we can only manage the events around the time provided for us. Life is also fleeting for me to busy myself of the things that doesn’t add value to my life.
Minimalism has helped me become more organized
When I discovered Minimalism last 2017, it changed drastically my relationship with stuff. I have learned to evaluate what are the things that add value to my life and remove the clutter. Clutter is considered the thing that hinders us in pursuing the things that are truly important. I find it difficult to organize stuff if I haven’t removed clutter first in my life.
There are different kinds of clutter that I have identified across my minimalism journey. There are identity clutter, mental clutter, calendar clutter, emotional clutter and physical clutter. The most outstanding thing for me was mental clutter. I have realized that an organized space often resulted in me having less mental clutter. Out of sight, out of mind as they say. In reality, it is actually difficult to remove physical clutter as well if your mind is so occupied so I think these two are reversible.
Anyway, since the goal was to eliminate the clutter. I went for decluttering any of which. The reason why I started Simplified Mind is because I want to record my minimalism journey that has helped me have a clear mindset after removing that things that are clutter to me.
Organizing my stuff
There are a lot of methods (including the Kon Mari method) that is somewhat related to minimalism. However, I have learned to organize my stuff in a simple way. I don’t like to put too much categorization (of course, minimalism) to my organization system with regards to my stuff.
I organize my stuff on how frequent I am using them. Frequency and accessibility is the key in pursuing a peaceful life. The things that I use more frequently should be readily available. Less frequently used stuff either gets decluttered or stored in a place I frequently visit.
Organizing my thoughts
I have been Bullet Journaling for more than three years and it is one of the methods that has helped me organized my thoughts. I still believe that analog method is still the best for brainstorming and journaling because of the tactile feedback. Learning how to organize my thoughts has helped me a lot in keeping myself in-tune with myself. Thoughts could be just flowing freely if you don’t take it captive and do somethings about it.
The art of writing things down and capturing thoughts is one of the things I often do. Brain dump has really worked for me and my workflow. I also apply the principle of using a Second Brain by Tiago Forte and it has helped me remember more things but just using an external tool.
As the legendary productivity guru once said,
“Your mind is for creating ideas, not storing them.”
David Allen – Getting Things Done
Building a Second Brain is truly helpful in allowing me to have a bank of ideas that can be arranged according to how actionable it is.
Minimalism has helped me discover what’s exciting
I am in a continuous pursuit of defining and refining my purpose and Minimalism has helped me a lot in that. Before I discover Minimalism, I find myself spreading myself in every direction but not arriving into something worthwhile. I have been pursuing almost everything that I think will make me a better person.
Pursuit of Self-Understanding
I have been a fan of self-help before and I tried to study every lifehack that could help me become more efficient and productive. I watched a ton of YouTube videos that can help me live a more productive life finding myself unproductive because I watched too many videos but not getting any work done.
The next thing I know is that watching and reading books about self-help alone will not help me become more productive. Moreover, it won’t even lead me to the person who I want to become someday. The pursuit of self-help has become a roadblock in helping me understand more of myself and pursue what I’ve truy wanted. Instead, it lead me to imitate other people and lose my sense of self.
Pursuit of Purpose
Minimalism has helped me have clarity of my purpose. If I will always do what others are doing, then I will get the same results as they are. I won’t be able to achieve God’s design and purpose in my life if I would live a life like a template. There is no formula in living one’s life because our stories varies independently.
I learned that I won’t be able to achieve my dream if I keep on chasing someone else’s dream. Doing the things that others have formulated for themselves could be a distraction in pursuin what is important to me.
Peaceful and Joyful
It has been over six years since I started my minimalism journey and I am still discovering a lot of things in my life as I pursue a more intentional life. Peace and joy are two things that money won’t be able to buy but it is possible to find. Being mindful, organized and knowing what’s exciting are truly great benefits of minimalism that I have found in my life.
