A minimalist approach
Nowadays, we’re living in a society where extravagance prevails over sustainability and equilibrium. We are spending and owning more than we should. From Credit.com, 80% of north American people are in debt. This is a reflection of how our society is based on “more”.
Days like Christmas and Black Friday shows to us how crazy people are becoming, just in order to buy things that, in most cases, they don’t need at all. A lot of psychologic research exposes that people purchase items as a way to forget about their lives and get away from anxiety. Although, this kind of behavior just make things worse. People aren’t happy, but the opposite: the percentage of people feeling sad is increasing.
Stop for one second and think about this: Do you own stuff or does your stuff own you? Do you think that you need everything that you own? Or are there some items that you bought, but never used? I’m not saying that things and money are not useful. The problem is not consuming, but consumption without purpose. The problem is you live a life that you don’t want.
Imagine your life with less anxiety, debt and clutter. Now, imagine your life with more time, freedom, experiences, meaning and purpose. Changing from the first perspective to the second one, is not as hard as you think. It is just about how you prioritize the tasks in your life.
Do you prefer spending hours checking your Facebook feed and texting on WhatsApp or using this time to do something useful? Do you prefer being passive in front of your TV or improving yourself? We create our own time. You just need to realize that you are in control of your life and you can manage your time how you want.
In a time where everyone ask you to multitask, I prefer to focus on one. Our brain is not capable handling various tasks at the same time. Furthermore, when trying to multitask you can’t really focus on just one task and you’ll easily get lost with what you were doing.
To face all this uncontrolled behavior, a new approach (or even a lifestyle) is growing and becoming more popular: minimalism. Minimalism has a lot of meanings and it changes in each case, but, in general, it is a way to say that less is more. It is not about living a life owning just an X quantity of items or living in a tent in the middle of the woods; is about living with focus and purpose. It’s about decluttering in your life and living simpler.
Minimalism tries to help you to live a more meaningful life, “not an easy one, nor even a perfect life, but a simpler one (from theminimalists.com)”.
