How to Live a Minimal Life
Goods and possessions are often the most distracting part of our lives. We all have a strange obsession with accumulating things, and the problem is that when we have these items we don’t necessarily know what to do with them, and they don’t have enrich our lives in the way we initially thought they would.
Try and counteract this, a lot of people choose to live a very minimalist life, and detach from the physical in order to focus more on the spiritual emotional side of existence. This can be quite confusing for people who don’t know what to do or how to be a minimalist, so read on to find out a few tips and tricks.
Strip Away The Home
The problem that a lot of people have when attempting to approach the minimalist lifestyle is often right there in their homes. We have a tendency to fill our dwellings with a lot of items which we may think add some value, but more of them are not they don’t. It might be decorations, it might be useless gadgets, but whatever you’re thinking about is probably surplus to actual requirement.
With that in mind, the path to minimalism often begins by taking away the things you don’t need, and keeping what you do. It’s very much a case of weighing up your needs with your wants, but a lot of people find that there is actually quite a bit they can get rid of.
Downsize Your Home
Something that a lot of people don’t think to do is actually to downsize their homes to something smaller. You may work for this really big house, and it may feel like a complete accomplishment, but that’s all the society wants you to think. Minimalism dictates that if it doesn’t serve a specific enough purpose, it needs to be replaced.
Some people look into static caravans to rent all year round in residential parks simply because they don’t need a massive house and instead prefer something simpler and smaller. It’s a lot cheaper as well, which is a big reason why a lot of people do subscribe to the practice of minimalism, because they want to avoid the unnecessary costs that comes with living in a way that is considered to be correct. You could also buy a van or touring caravan and live minimally on the road. The only thing you’d need to do is spend money on fuel and insurance. If you’re not sure which insurance suits you, it’s best to compare touring caravan insurance quotes first.
Practice Material Detachment
Something that you can do to reinforce the idea of minimalism is to practice the idea of detaching from the physical. A lot of people perform rigourous mental exercises in which they look at materialistic items and logically justify not buying them. In the same way that some people fill up a basket on the website with goods they want to buy and then don’t buy any of them, a minimalist might look at a frivolous purchase and rationally explain to themselves why they don’t need it.
What you are doing is training your brain to look at the advertisements and consumer-based world and reject a lot of the fundamental principles that make spending so enjoyable. You don’t need any of this stuff, and you’ve come to that realisation by yourself, which means that these advertisements no longer have any power over you.
To summarise, there are a lot of benefits to living a very minimal life, and a lot of people find that it brings a simple joy which materialistic possessions simply can’t offer. If you don’t fancy the idea of only having one pair of jeans for the rest of your life, then you can cut back a bit, and adopt some minimalist habits. It’s just a case of living the life you want, and not the life anyone else says you should have.