The many roads that lead to living minimal and simple

I love to read about other people’s paths to a minimal life.  What I love most about it is not hearing about how they live in 590 square foot homes or how they have only 5 articles of clothing hanging in their closet. While that is nice, and it might work for some, it doesn’t give the best picture of what living minimal and simple is about, and how to get there.

What I like reading is how different everyone’s journey is. And how unique. It feels good to know there isn’t one mold that you have to fit into in order to be a minimalist and live a simpler life.

If fact, there are many roads to take toward living minimally and simply. Toward is the optimal word. These roads to take are all part of the steps to living a simple, organized life. {That can feel good knowing you have time to reach your goal.}

The process differs for each individual {which also feels good!} but there is one commonality in all the stories I read online. It is what people say about the freedom they gain from living minimal.

Not everyone is reducing their belongings down to nothing. But everyone is making choices differently. Thinking differently. Allowing in what matters.  And that gives them a freedom to live their life differently.  Better.  More simply.

Being a minimalist doesn’t mean you are left with less, necessarily.  Owning less might likely be the result of questioning what you own, making sure it truly does have a purpose. And you could very well end up with less.  Less belongings, less negativity, less cleaning and chores, less stress.

All of that less really means you are left with more.

More of what makes you happy, fulfills you. You are left with more time, more clarity, more open space.

You have more of whatever it is that feels good to you, for you, in your space, and in your head.

There is a simplicity in living life this way. And there is value in deciding to adopt this very fruitful way of living.

But we must remember that becoming a minimalist and living this way is a process that is different for every single person.

For one person, simply lightening the physical load of what is in the house might feel like a healthy dose of minimalism (and it is!). For someone else, turning off cable for a month or reducing the internet plan is what is needed to lighten the noise, reduce the time spent in front of the television and increase time spent with those you love. Both are true avenues to less, and making room for more of what matters.

The point is that getting to minimal must be seen as a process in order to make it feel do-able. Life is fluid. We are always contending with more coming in – to our home, head, heart.  Which makes living minimal not necessarily something at which you arrive and then you are done.

There is also a true beauty in the becoming minimal which is in part about the journey in getting there.

It’s not getting to a destination that always matters most. It is who we become along the journey.

There are many roads that can help you live minimally and simply. You don’t have to [necessarily] go cold turkey. Or stop buying things or enjoying material items. You don’t have to do what everyone else who is a self-proclaimed minimalist does. All you have to do is whatever it is that makes you feel lighter. Start there.

Do what is simple and basic and that which evokes for you the feeling of freedom and happy.

Those feelings are always present when you feel clear on who you want to be and what you want your life to look like.

Do the basics. One step at a time.

Don’t compare yourself to anyone. And don’t try to fit into a certain frame of what you think a minimalist must look like in order to be one.

Your journey to minimal is yours. And yours alone. Whatever you do – big or small – to be in love with your life, to have less so you can have more is good enough. It is a good start.

Starting on that road is really all that matters.