Why Minimalism Is Beneficial To Our Wellbeing

I’m being sneaky to post about minimalism in January. I think it’s the perfect time to talk about minimalism – after the money is spent, the leftovers gone, and obviously, the Christmas gifts opened.

By now, enough time has passed so the joy we felt from the presents should have dissipated, leaving us with a bunch of new items added to our arsenal of belongings and perhaps nasty post-holiday blues… Ugh. I hope it isn’t so bad for you! If it is, maybe you can distract yourself with this post and consider dipping your toes into minimalism?

Assuming you’re not already a minimalist, that is!

Why minimalism?

Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.

The Minimalists, on Minimalism.

Our resources are limited.

Attention

How did the holidays make you feel? Were you frazzled by all the shopping and buying you had to do? Was it hard to keep track of whose present you have or haven’t prepared? The celebrations were merry, but did they also tire you out?

That’s a demonstration of the scarcity of your attention – our cognitive resource. The ability to pay attention helps us to succeed in the things we do – be it in school, work or relationships.

Even though attention doesn’t run out per se, the amount of attention we have at any given moment is limited. When we have too many things vying for our attention, our cognitive load increases and our ability to perform tasks gets affected. Consequently, we become slower or more careless when completing a task.

What has attention got to do with minimalism? Well, minimalism is about removing excess, and it extends way beyond things into our way of life.

Whether it’s social media apps distracting you from work, too many clothes and shoes making it hard to decide on an outfit, or too many things in your home making it hard to find what you need, these things take up your attention and processing power.

When applied to our life, minimalism helps us identify and focus on what matters most to us.

Space and time

Similarly, space and time are limited resources.

Everywhere we look, we’re constantly encouraged to buy things to become “happier” or to “keep the economy going”. And where do these things end up in? Our homes!

Before we know it, we’re spending more time tending to the stuff we bought, finding places to keep them, and looking for them when we lose them among our things…

The problem is, we have only a fixed amount of space. When we fill our home up with things, it gets cluttered. Some people, in turn, buy more space like rental units and bigger homes, only to fill those up as well.

Does anyone ever need that many things?

No! But we may not stop to think about that because we’ve been conditioned to think that things make us happy or life easier – until they start overwhelming us and we find ourselves looking for a solution.

Ironically, consumerism and clutter were the catalysts that propelled minimalism’s rise to stardom, because more people are recognizing minimalism as a solution to the clutter in our lives.

Money

Obviously, the more things you buy, the more money you spend. Take a look around you, with the exception of things you need to use or really love, everything else represents money you could’ve saved. Buying has become so easy and sometimes, so automatic, that we don’t stop to think when we spend on relatively cheaper items.

However, these spendings accumulate and before we realize it, we’re overspending.

We really paid for our things with our time. If you make $15 an hour, that $15 shirt you bought cost you an hour. Think you’re wasting money? Take it a step further, you may be wasting your time as well.

Environmental resources

This is a huge reason why I love minimalism even more. Compared to how I was before I got into minimalism, I’ve cut my purchases by 90%. With the exception of groceries, necessities, and supplies for my hobbies. I don’t buy much else. Because I choose products of decent quality, there’s little need to replace what I have.

Other than the savings and peace of mind my new buying habits brought me, it has also lowered my carbon footprint. Of course, one can totally have a buy-and-throw lifestyle and still be a minimalist, but one can also be a green minimalist. As long as you’re not unusually wasteful, becoming more of a minimalist will definitely lower your carbon footprint. It’s a happy little side-effect.

A lot of people see reducing carbon footprint as an inconvenience. This is a lifestyle that improves your quality of life AND lowers your carbon footprint. Even if you only reduce the things you purchase by 30%, that still counts.

Minimalism improves our quality of life.

Minimalism helps us to become more intentional with our actions so we don’t waste copious amounts of money, time, space, and our attention and get burned out in the process.

It encourages you to question the following:

• What do I want to allow into my space?
• Who do I want in my life?
• How much am I willing to do for the things I own? E.g. cleaning, maintaining.
• What should I spend my hard-earned money on? We exchanged our time for money after all.
• And most importantly, what are you willing to spend your time and attention on? Time and attention are both very precious resources that money can’t buy.

Minimalism is not just about paring down your belongings, it’s about being intentional and mindful about how you use your resources.

The funny thing is, by becoming more aware of what you’re doing with your resources, you’ll find yourself with more of these resources. It’s like removing baggage that weighed you down – it isn’t lightness you gained, it’s simply the absence of the baggage.

The process, briefly.

Decluttering of the home is always the first step, and the easiest resource to recover is space. Savings will follow as we cut down on buying to maintain our fresh minimalistic way of life. (And say hi to a lower carbon footprint!)

This is where you’ll find out if minimalism is for you. If decluttering didn’t make you feel lighter or happier, move on with a neater house!

For most of us, decluttering isn’t a one-time thing, we usually go through several rounds of it. What this does is build a mindset that makes you more mindful of how you use your resources.

With lesser distractions around you and a mindful mindset, it’s almost inevitable that we’ll become more mindful about how we spend our time and attention, be it in real life or online.

Throughout the process, we learn about what we really want, how we’re really like and all that good stuff.

Sounds good?

In conclusion

Minimalism, to me, is a gradual and logical process. I used to think that it’s a physical activity – just decluttering. You get a nice home and these practical benefits, and that’s it. But I was wrong.

It’s almost like a therapy that helps you to recover some clarity and priority in life, except it’s fun. And minimalism can be fun for everyone because minimalism isn’t about austerity or having only 100 items. You don’t have to live in a sparsely furnished house that echoes and looks like its occupants moved out recently – unless you want to.

It’s a way of life that makes it easier and easier to become more mindful. That’s not to say you will or you have to, but minimalism, when done properly, definitely facilitates mindfulness.

Admittedly, minimalism isn’t for everyone. Some people love having a lot of things, a lot of activities, and keeping up with the latest news and trends. Not everyone enjoys introspection, and that’s perfectly fine.

However, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by things, activities and our overconsumption tendencies, give minimalism a try!

---

Read about my minimalism journey.