When I come back from a long day of classes, I clean my room and organize everything in hopes that it will help me feel less claustrophobic, but I still feel distracted by everything I own. That's why going to coffee shops, libraries, or even finding your own distraction-free zone to study is good. In the process of organizing, I always think to myself, "I don't need these things. Am I happy with them? Are they important? If not, why do I have them?" Once I ask myself the necessary questions, I will begin my change.

It intrigued me to want less to feel more satisfied with a simple, non-luxurious life because that is just... so different from what most people usually think about nowadays. We want more! More material items! We buy things to "complete" our happiness, but it's only temporary. We have so many things to do and then we complain about time because we feel as though there is never enough.

The little problem with that: more is never enough when it comes to such materialistic objects…I saw it as if you live your life with significantly less, but are still able to be healthy and significantly happy, then why not? Save yourself some time, money, and stress.

I am devoting myself to strive to live a more meaningful life! Not to say it won't be more or less busy, but I will be more focused on tasks that are important to me (homework, working out, eating, studying). These better habits will give me more free time to work on my hobbies that I deem important as well; even if it is just for a little while.

I read a post between two people recently where one said, "Anything worth doing, is worth doing poorly… because doing it poorly is better than not doing it at all", and the other went along with by admitting that you should, "take the 50%, 40%, even 20% job". Sometimes it is hard to get the right motivation to finish tasks and even start some, but once you have that motivation, make it impossible to lose. Even if you have to put in half the effort, you're still working and trying. If you finish your task(s), that time you have will help you become happier, less stressed, and maybe even more successful in another field. Take the necessary steps to improve the way you live now; change how you want to start living.

I have learned from The Minimalists themselves that being a minimalist doesn't mean you have to get rid of everything you own, it is keeping what is most important to you and what you believe will benefit your happiness. It's about getting rid of those negative people in your life that you feel aren't on the same page as you, or have the same values. If you find that there are people in your life that are important to you, but your relationship has changed over time, try to fix those relationships before leaving them. Sit down with them and tell them the values you are looking for in life; how you want to work better with them. You don't want to change the person, but you want something about the relationship to change. You care about the value, but if the relationship is invaluable and you are not happy, then leave. You deserve to be happy and I feel that is always more important.

I have kicked out people in my life that I do not plan on seeing ever again. I tried to make relationships work with many different people for a long time, but it wasn't helping and it didn't feel right. I knew I needed more support and I needed to see clearly what I was missing. Today, I am still here and I am thriving. I feel better than I have in a long time and each step I take to live a more meaningful, productive life. I'm not going to stop dreaming about things I am hoping to achieve. I want to apply those things to my life so when I have my own home, I know how to be reasonable, less cluttered, and more liberated!