When the average person thinks of the minimalist lifestyle, they most likely think about someone who owns very little stuff, wears the same grayscale clothing each day, and lacks furniture or a TV or even decor in their clean, modern, and sparse home. Maybe they think about decluttering and curating the perfect capsule wardrobe that “sparks joy” à la Marie Kondo. Or maybe they think of someone who can fit everything they own into a carryon. We often think of minimalism as the rejection of unnecessary “stuff”: material, physical objects. This is only natural, given how capitalism and hyperconsumerism has centered our goals and lifestyles around buying and accumulating stuff. It’s easy to forget that there is more to life than the things we buy and consume. But minimalism can be applied to one’s life beyond the material. In fact, “decluttering” non-material aspects of your life may be the most impactful way to improve your efficiency, energy, success, and most importantly–your well-being.
Think about it: you are likely getting constantly bombarded with the message that you need to do more, take on more work, wake up earlier, get stronger, lose more weight, make and maintain more friendships, manage anxiety, have more hobbies, learn an instrument, get another degree, learn to code, find your soulmate or improve your existing relationship, start a family…and so on and so forth. You’ve probably felt too busy to even breathe, and by being pulled in different directions in the pursuit of doing everything and being good at everything, you feel mediocre at everything and are completely burnt out. You might wonder what this is all even for? And feeling this sense of failure and lack of direction, your response is to add even MORE– go to therapy, incorporate a new workout routine, take more classes, read a self-help book, impress your boss… However, the answer might be to do less. To say “no” and toss aspects of your life, even some of the aspects you think are good and helpful. Maybe you need to cut out learning the ukulele or going to Zumba 5 times a week. Maybe you need to leave a relationship that is draining. Maybe you need to cut down on the number of projects you are working on.
It’s easy to feel like, in doing this, you are giving up or quitting, especially in a society that tells you that you need to always be doing more to beat out the competition. That you need to be successful and the best at every single aspect of life. However, this all comes down to perspective and intentionality. Think of it this way: you are not giving up, you are simply choosing not to prioritize something at this point in your life. Your time and energy are precious and limited resources that you deserve to spend on what matters most to you. Maybe next year, the aspect of life you are choosing not to prioritize will later upgrade to priority status, after you’ve completed a project that you were previously spread too thin to deeply focus on. Maybe next year you find that you don’t need or even miss that person, activity, or habit. Maybe you find yourself loving life again, re-centered, focused, clear, and intentional.
How can you put this minimalist lifestyle into practice? How can you toss what isn’t serving you, weed out what’s blocking the light from reaching you, and finally blossom? Here are a few ideas that have helped me declutter my life and prioritize what matters most:
- Keep a daily log of what energizes you and what drains you. This may open up your eyes to patterns of what is and isn’t benefiting you on a daily basis. Prioritize and do more of what energizes you and toss what drains you.
- Create your “ideal week”. Use a planner or calendar software to plan out what your week would ideally look like. When do you want to wake up and go to bed? When do you work (or want to work)? When and how much time would you have for different hobbies, cooking, meditation, exercise, or seeing friends? Where would you fit in quality time and obligations with family and partners? This practice has revealed to me how little time there truly is in a week, and realistically how much time I have to allot to various tasks and obligations. I realized that I may not be able to get 5-6 days a week of 2 hours of exercise while also doing graduate coursework. It forced me to prioritize what I truly need each day to be happy and live the life I want.
- Reflect on and write out your priorities, then say “no” to anything that doesn’t align with your priorities. Saying “no” is a way to take control of your life, respect your autonomy and energy, and be the best person you can be in what matters most to you. Together, let’s let go of the shame around saying “no”, kindly and firmly.
- Be cautious about multitasking. It may seem like multitasking is a great way to save time, but often it simply divides your attention and reduces performance. While multitasking may more easily work with tasks than don’t require overlapping skills (like walking while listening to a podcast, standing while writing, or knitting while chatting with a friend), you’re likely to suck at doing two or more tasks that use the same resource (like watching the news while writing a report, or reading a book while listening to a podcast). Lean into one task fully and completely.
- Batch related tasks. Switching between many tasks requires mental energy and time. Instead of doing a bit of cooking, cleaning, writing, working, and socializing every day, it may be a better use of your time to meal prep on Sunday so you don’t have to cook many small meals, or to do all your cleaning tasks at once on Saturday, or block out only two 4-hour blocks to just write each week.
- Minimize negative, energy-sucking, and time-wasting habits such as rumination, excessive social media use, judgmentalness, social comparison, and self-hatred. Trust me, you’re better off without that, and it doesn’t make your life or anyone else’s life better. While easier said than done, you deserve to put the work into cultivating a healing and compassionate headspace.
So that’s it for today’s post on the minimalist lifestyle beyond the material! At Toss ‘em and Blossom, we are passionate about the power of letting go and saying “no” to whatever doesn’t serve our highest selves and the world we want to create. For more content like this, check out the rest of our blog. Thank you for being here, and let’s get decluttering!