I am pretty sure I don’t need to tell you that getting organized can be a difficult chore. It can be confusing, overwhelming, tiring, and emotional. And it can be fulfilling; it can leave you feeling light and happy, and…free.
Living a life where minimalism is front and center offers the same struggles. And the same results. Both are important components in creating opportunity for your soul and your space to breathe.
There are people who want to get organized and don’t often want to be minimalists. At least that is what they say. The term minimalism is just too scary to embrace and it often connotes this idea that you will have nothing. Nothing but stark white walls in a tiny house where your closet houses only one of everything.
This, of course, is not what minimalism is.
Minimalism is simply the deliberate act of keeping things that serve a purpose and discarding those that don’t. {Sounds kind of like “getting organized” doesn’t it?} Being organized is simply keeping things in a way that makes sense. So you can find them again, and use them – as would be the goal for why you are keeping something in the first place. Right?
Just like minimalism can mean having an orange wall in your kitchen, being organized can mean you have three black dress shoes, all with different purposes and comfort levels. When working hand in hand, minimalism and organization can help you fully understand what you own, and why. And where it can be best housed so your space breathes.
A space that breathes allows you to breathe more easily, and move about more freely.
Freedom allows you to do more, and make progress, and think more clearly – in any endeavor you undertake. Be it starting a business, raising children, changing your diet, becoming more fit, taking care of your self.
Doesn’t the ability to do any of those things with clarity sound appealing?
One thing I have learned in my nearly two decades of working to help people lighten their load and then set up efficient systems so they can live their life more deliberately – without stress is this: the journey is what is most valuable.
And, that gaining momentum is the key to keeping you on the path to living that light, happy and free life you so desire.
The phrase “keeping you on a path” can feel like there is no end. Which may be disconcerting to you – like it is to many others. But here is the truth: nothing is ever finished. It is just changed. To be organized, and live minimal means consistent attention to what comes into your head and your home. And creating a habit out of sorting and discarding to keep what has meaning.
You will get disorganized again. And you might just let in more than you ever need, like or use (which will likely cause said disorganization). But along the way you learn and you grow and you change. That is what is really most important. That despite being in the muck, or even getting out of it and going back in, you can keep your ultimate goal in mind. And do what is necessary to live a life you love.
Organization is the tool to help you get there. Minimalism is the mindset to help you stay there.
They are two sides of the same coin, and worth every penny.
