Holding on to things that don't add any value to me has never been my thing, so if being a minimalist hasn't impacted my life in any way, I am certain it would have been a thing of the past for me by now. Minimalism didn't mean much to me until I understood the essence of the lifestyle and embraced it. I can confidently say it's one of the best decisions I have made in life.
Whenever I speak about the positive impact of minimalism on my life just to make the people around me see what they are missing out on, they think my words are mere exaggeration. Honestly, it's understandable why they can't relate to my testimonies, but it confuses me when they admire and make my simple approach to life a topic of discussion.
I have been a minimalist for a while now, and do not have any regrets about it. I am so pleased with how the lifestyle has changed my life for good and wouldn't hesitate to teach my children this flawless path to pure happiness and freedom.
I was lucky to understand early in life that a perfect life doesn't exist anywhere, but there is a possibility of living a happy and fulfilled life, but how?
Back then, I tried different approaches to living a happy and fulfilled life, but my efforts were futile. I remembered sharing a story about myself making lots of friends because I thought they would complete me and make life a lot more beautiful, but they did the opposite. They took a lot away from me just like my other approach did, and the life I craved so badly for remained a fantasy.
I wasn't just held down by my physical clutter, I had my emotional and mental clutter that was doing the worst in my life, and letting go was the most challenging thing to do.
While struggling to make this fantasy a reality, I realized that there were so many unnecessary things I have gotten myself hooked on, then decluttering came into the picture. I had to let go of so many things, and at first, it felt like I was putting too much away, but it wasn't long before I realized the benefits of living with less, and my life never felt empty like I imagined.
Decluttering taught me the need to prioritize what truly matters in life, or else I would always drag myself back to the struggles I was free and running away from. The habit of prioritizing what matters to me had a great influence on my relationships with people, health, and even finances.
Defining my priorities made me keen on adding value to myself with everything I do, and this wouldn't have been possible without embracing minimalism.
Practicing minimalism made gratitude very important, and it has become an ingrained habit for me. Today, I do not speak about the future a lot, and this makes me look unserious to even my family, but that's not it. I just appreciate and focus more on today than piling unnecessary pressure on myself about tomorrow. Excessively thinking about tomorrow robbed me of happiness in the past, and it's really not a good feeling.
Practicing gratitude now helps me create a balance between today and tomorrow in such a way that they don't cross each other. I don't ruin today's beautiful moment with the thoughts of tomorrow, and there is no better way to create beautiful memories than that.
Minimalism made me cherish and invest more in experience than material things, and it's one of the best things the lifestyle has done to me. I am not a materialistic person from the onset, but there are times I still crave and go for things that might eventually have no importance to me in the long run.
While minimalism helped me do away with the unnecessary crave for material things, I realized that I was developing more interest in gathering experience—beautiful moments that would live rent-free in my head forever. Some days ago, I and my spouse were chatting and somehow went into the discussion about our most memorable birthday celebration.
I mentioned a particular birthday when my family was home; we all cooked, dined, and even saw a movie together. It was my best celebration ever, even though I didn't get a gift in material form.
My wife went on to ask if a particular birthday when she got me an expensive gift didn't count, and I made it clear that it meant a lot to me, but where is the gift today? Honestly, I don't even know where it is, but memories can't be forgotten, and they mean a lot to me.
Experience now carries more value than material things, and I am so enjoying it.
I had this emotional baggage I was carrying around for up to a decade, and it really affected me in many ways. I couldn't let go even though it was tearing me apart, but embracing minimalism helped me get rid of the baggage and even taught me forgiveness.
I felt a huge burden lifted from me, and life became more meaningful. I had reasons to live other than trying to prove someone wrong, and struggling with physical or emotional issues became the least of my struggles.
The happiness and fulfilled life I wanted was not far from me, but I had searched for it too long in the wrong place. Luckily for me, minimalism helped me trace my steps to happiness and without it, the success I made with these things I mentioned above wouldn't have been possible.