Every day, we are surrounded by things. Cars, clothing, new gadgets and products are constantly advertised to us in hopes that we spend our money on more of these items to achieve optimum happiness. However, the opposite is true. in a world where having more is desirable, it is the ultimate source of unhappiness, making having less suddenly more desirable.
Minimalism is the principle of having less. By owning fewer material possessions, you suddenly have more time and money to do things that actually matter to you. In the book "The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything" by Joshua Becker, the basic ideas of minimalism are outlined. Becker shares how minimalism changed his life, giving him more time to spend with his family, and allowing him to finally find the joy he was missing from his life.
How can owning less bring you more joy? The answer is simple: by only owning items that you love and actually use each day, you can enjoy them. Owning less does not mean getting rid of everything you have, it simply means only keeping items that bring you joy. Take clothing, for example. Many advertisements push for you to buy more clothes, causing you to spend your weekend shopping to have the latest styles. Many of these clothes probably remain unworn, or are worn for a short period of time until the new trends emerge. Owning so many clothes does not bring you joy, it just makes you unhappy. You must worry about keeping up with trends, and think about how you will pay for these clothes. You also spend time going shopping for these clothes, which makes it hard to spend time doing the things you actually like.
Minimalism has the opposite effect. For example, only owning a few items of clothing and re-wearing them, you save time and money. Instead of constantly shopping, you have time to do the things you actually like and will be able to save money. This will also ensure that you can enjoy all the clothes that you buy. If you spend your money on well-made clothes but have less of them, you will love to wear them because they will fit well and you will have to go shopping less because they will not need replacing as often.
With less possessions, you can achieve more happiness in your life. You will find that you do not need things to make you feel happy each day, but it will be the people surrounding you or the moments and your accomplishments that can make you happy. Possessions were never meant to make us happy—it is just the consumerist culture that tells us that we should be happy with more possessions.
It can be hard to start to become a minimalist, as you may think you still need items for future use. However, if you are holding onto items forever, then they will end up accumulating. Instead, start with a small junk drawer or in a cabinet and figure out what you want to keep, donate or throw away. By starting in one area, you can see that you may have more than you need.
When you own less, you suddenly start to feel like you do not need to own more than what you already have. What you own should only bring you joy, and your possessions should not bring you down. Instead, it can be rewarding to figure out if you actually use everything that you own, so that you can finally figure out what actually brings you happiness in life besides what you own.
