COLUMN : minimalism - where to begin

it’s different for everyone : how we get attracted to minimalism in the first place. for me it was aesthetic. i didn’t know there was a whole lot more to it.

later it begun growing more and more into being about simplifying life, discarding anything that unnecessarily drained my energy.

finally realising that minimalism can be a complete lifestyle – with ethical, political, personal, practical, and financial aspects. the more i discover, the more sense it makes to me. minimalism is for me not about having a clean white home. or throwing away all your belongings. it’s not about the surface, it’s for me about being conscious of my life choices. a way to focus on where i’m going.

so when attracted to the minimalist way of life, this is where i would begin :
by asking myself what it is that i really want.
what life, which things, what job ? what do i want the world to be like ?
and ask myself again and again. think about it often. am i moving in the direction i want to move in ?

when i know what it is that i really want, and what is truly important to me – i know where to focus my energy.
and in my case at least, that has made the unimportant things disappear automatically. i don’t have to consciously clean my mind, space, schedule, or diet. it just sort of happens when i know what i want, and go for it.

sometimes i miss the mark completely and start heading in the wrong direction for me. this is ok, because it only makes me more sure of where i should be going, and i can get going again.

it’s just a pleasurable way to live, to ask myself what i want, need, wish for, enjoy and think is important – rather than asking myself what i don’t want, what i want to get rid of, what i don’t enjoy, and what i shouldn’t be spending my energy on.

and to me, this is minimalism. simply knowing what’s important and going for it.

love // jenny

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