By reading some of the previous posts, you will likely be convinced of the many benefits that changing a minimalist lifestyle can bring. However, problems do arise when you think about how to implement these changes without causing problems in your daily life.
The most important thing in minimalism and its long-term success is find the right balance. This is the reason why people who are overly ascetic often fail to sustain their lifestyle over the long term.
People who believe minimalism is about eradicating possessions and items from their lives to the extreme are almost certainly on the way to failure. There are very few people who can spend time without the comfort of their own home.
With all your possessions in a single bag, you may have gone too far in your quest for simplicity. Extreme minimalism is not for everyone. It is important to find your own measure.
In the minimalist life you don’t have to try to give up the basics like a home or a car or necessarily downsize. You can start with small steps and explore. While there are some people out there who are looking for that level of minimalism, they are the exception rather than the rule.
Efforts should be made to remove anything that is lacking in meaning and value. You can choose to rent a home instead of buying it if it gives you more security, greater freedom from debt and worry.
To find the right balance in your minimalist lifestyle, you need to weigh your external resources against your internal resources in order for you to find true happiness. In the meantime, your inner resources are the things within you that bring happiness to your life.
For most of us, the perfect balance will involve a little of each to achieve true happiness and the right minimalist approach. This is the only way to create enough space for the things that are most important to you.
When you get rid of just the right things and consciously work to change your thought patterns and attitudes about your possessions, you can get all the benefits without feeling like you have without them. That’s what balance means.
Minimalist life is not just for certain people. Everyone can achieve a balance in their own way when it comes to developing a minimalist attitude towards life
Realistically, a growing family will not be able to put all of their belongings in one backpack. That doesn’t mean they can’t be minimalistic about life. It’s more about a change of attitude than a sudden rush to eradicate items from your home and life. Find the right balance for your individual circumstances and that is where you will find you are not someone who cannot reap the benefits of minimalism, whether you are young or old, single or family member. There are no rules when it comes to minimalism.
Those who believe that there is only one way to achieve the minimalist lifestyle goal are wrong. And it can be doomed in the long run. The rules can be tailored to the needs of each individual or family. When a balance can be found by deliberately focusing only on the essentials and letting go of everything else, a feeling of calm follows.
You can start finding the balance that’s right for you by starting with the basics. Eliminate the physical clutter in your life, then move on to cleaning up the digital clutter and then the mental clutter that invades your mind.
Make sure you only leave the things that you really love and value in your life and support. Think of the mantra “quality over quantity”. The right balance of minimalism isn’t found by getting rid of everything, but neither can it be found if you refuse to reduce your clutter at all. The key is to consider quality.
While having some possessions in your life is important and even enjoyable, those possessions should be good quality items. Too often we are tempted to buy into the throwaway economy. We buy cheaply made products at low prices and then replace them when they no longer work or when we simply no longer want or use them. This completely contradicts the minimalist philosophy.
Instead of buying cheaper products that you can pointlessly put aside, opt for more expensive but better-made items that will stand the test of time.
If something breaks, you can replace it with something new. If not, hold back and avoid buying any more items to add to your existing collection. If you avoid the temptation to shop a few times, you will soon find that you can do without these things, that would have been done once in a second. With this revolutionary buying approach, you can achieve the optimal balance of the elements in your life without inadvertently causing more and more clutter in your life.
The Problems of Minimalism and How to Address Them
While it is clear that there are many benefits of adopting a minimalist lifestyle, this is one of the biggest problems that arise when it comes to making the necessary changes. Minimalism represents a completely different way of thinking than the others used here in the 21st century.
Minimalism not only requires a change in your physical lifestyle, but it also requires a change in attitude and mind. This can be the most difficult to deal with.
Is adopting minimalism a challenge? There are several issues that you are likely to encounter if you decide to take. These are just a few of them. It is difficult to complete the flush. Clearing up all the clutter in your life by donating, selling, throwing, or recycling can seem like forever. Even if you think you have finally achieved your goal, inevitably you will. It will add more to your collection over time, no matter how aware you are of your shopping regime, and that too will require a clean-up at some point.
It can be difficult to decide what to let go of. At the beginning of your process, it will always be difficult to make decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of. It can be especially difficult when you are particularly attached to your possessions, and when the items are shared with a partner or other family member it can be even more difficult to make a decision.
What do you do when one person is more attached to an object than the other? Discussions become important, and this can be time-consuming and stressful. Ultimately, it’s never worth getting into an important discussion about whether it’s about keeping or getting rid of a particular item.
Ask questions about how often you use it, whether it makes you happy, or whether it has a valid purpose. This should help you make a final decision.
While it can be relatively easy to embrace minimalism when you’re single or even part of a couple, it can get more complex when you have kids and pets. Extended families naturally accumulate more items and possessions, making it harder to stick to their minimalist principles.
For example, what do you do when it is the children’s birthday? Are you tempted to buy them the newest toys that they are likely to throw away in a few days? What if they receive gifts from other people? How do you approach this problem? It may seem rude to ask friends and family not to buy gifts, but if you don’t, you could have a lot of unwanted clutter in your home. Your focus will be at an early stage so that you are not exposed to additional stress in a particular situation.
Avoid temptation. Not only are there temptations when it comes to younger family members, but it can also be a problem for anyone trying to adopt a minimalist lifestyle. Fall for their ads and distractions that get in our way.
It is important to be prepared for this eventuality and to keep a close eye on your goals and motivations. Minimalism is an ongoing philosophy that must be adopted at all levels of your life.
You should always keep this in mind whenever you are tempted to make a purchase and remember not to buy more than you need. The need to accumulate possessions can be a constant struggle. Hence, before pulling out the money to pay for an item, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.
Do you really need this item? Why do you need to buy it? If you can answer these questions and give a realistic and valid answer, you are ready to make the purchase. Otherwise, you’ve given yourself the time you need. You need to make the right decision and put the product back on the shelf where it belongs.
Embracing the concept of keeping life simple and minimal, takes a lot of work. After all, this is not common in the modern world and the concept can be extremely encouraging to all of us who are ready to make changes. This means that fear of the unknown can stop us. We are used to accumulating more items.
Instead of looking down on them, it is natural for us to feel some apprehension or even nasty horror at the idea of doing something that contradicts what we know.
What if we accidentally throw something of sentimental value? What if we only regret it later? Even if you go out of your way to remove useless and useless items from your life, it can be more difficult to determine which of your possessions fall into these categories, harder than you ever imagined.
We tend to rethink things and trying to stay in our comfort zone. This makes it extremely difficult to take the final step of getting rid of non-essential items. Do not overthink. Just do it!
The modern world is a very pressurized place. We are feeling the influence of marketers and the media as well as society. telling us that we should work on accumulating more possessions, not getting rid of them. In a way, we feel like a failure if we don’t have a house filled with the latest products.
While at some level we know this is nonsense, it is difficult to break against common belief when it is so ingrained in today’s society. anything but the things that are most important to your happiness and wellbeing.
Most of all, you need to understand that a minimalist approach to life takes time. It is not something that you can easily accomplish overnight. It is an ongoing process of thinking, evaluating, recognizing, and eradicating.
It won’t always be easy, but if you accept this fact and accept it anyway, you are sure to reap the benefits in the long run. Your new way of life is waiting for you!