So, if you've begun to make the switch to minimalism, or living a more simple life, or even just finding ways to add value to your world, you may be asking, "Now what?!" What is supposed to happen or what do you gain by this lifestyle change? In what ways is it supposed to be better than before you made the switch? Here's a few things I want to touch on today:
1. When you aren't tied to your home's cleaning, dusting, yard work, piles of laundry, mounds of dirty dishes, stacks of unopened mail, etc, you free up time. I'm not saying you should stop cleaning and live in a pig sty, but if you have a capsule wardrobe, you don't own enough clothes to make piles on the floor anymore. If you don't hoard junk mail and stack unnecessary items on flat surfaces around your house, you don't have to find an hour to go through it all. If you don't own the typical 300,000 items most Americans do, there's minimal cleaning and dusting. Use that time to add value to your life by engaging in hobbies and your health. Begin to add time for walks or workouts, fresh air, hobbies, interests, educating yourself in whatever you've always wanted to learn.
2. Happiness starts to creep in unexpectedly. The craving for all that you don't have fades. The "keeping up with the Jones'" feelings go away. You no longer care what other people wear, what they drive, where they vacation, what they buy, etc. You end up removing the monkey on your back that urges you to constantly "chase more" just to find out it never satisfies...NEVER. When all that passes away, what's left is a calm sense of being content. It's a very peaceful feeling, and over time, it turns to happiness on a regular basis.
3. Space. When you declutter your home, your digital life, your relationships, and your thoughts, what's left is soothing, empty space - and that's okay. It's very freeing to have lots of empty space around instead of mounds of clutter. Space asks nothing of you or your time.
4. Freedom. Why and how do you gain freedom? Because you aren't always worrying about losing all your "stuff". You don't worry about what if someone breaks in and steals your stuff. You let go of the stress trying to gain more stuff, and where to put it, and how to protect it, and how best to insure it, and how to keep it from leaving/going away. Your mind is freed. I only own about 35 pieces of clothing, not including underwear, socks, etc. If they all got ruined in a load of laundry (like someone spilled bleach into the washer full of clothes), I wouldn't panic. They don't represent years of hard work, hours and dollars spent accumulating them, one of a kind things I'll never be able to replace...seriously, everyday things should never be considered irreplaceable, with only the exception of old photos (which you can scan & save digitally now). Only people should be irreplaceable.
5. Peace comes when you've learned to make time for it. Taking time you've gained for prayer, or meditation on higher things, or quieting your mind, or centering yourself, it all brings peace that you probably never knew when you were in the throws of chasing brand names, knick knacks, and stuff.
Yes, it's worth it.
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