Living with Less: A Personal Take on Minimalism

[Alisa]

Today, I want to continue our discussion on minimalism by sharing five personal strategies I use to embrace this lifestyle. As I'm writing this text in a serene pine forest. If you're interested in this topic, keep reading.

The first important point I want to make is that minimalism is not just about having a clean and organized space. While the physical aspect plays a significant role, true minimalism is a mindset. It's about habits, emotions, and understanding how your brain works. Minimalism is about making conscious choices and taking responsibility for how you live your life.

Make Your Own Choices

The foundation of my minimalist approach is the principle of making your own choices. It's your responsibility to decide how you want to live, what you want to eat, and how you want to navigate your life. Don’t let others make those decisions for you. This realization is crucial in understanding what you truly want from life and yourself.

Define Your Values

Minimalism intersects with essentialism, and a great book that explores this is "The Path to Simplicity." To live minimally, you need to define your values. Write down how you envision your home, your family, your workspace. Visualize and understand your goals. I recommend writing down 20-30 values or goals daily. Over time, you'll notice some will no longer resonate with you, leaving only your core values. This process helps clear the path you want to follow.

Regularly Declutter Your Space

Physical space plays a crucial role in minimalism. Regularly go through your belongings and remove what you no longer need. Monthly, evaluate what’s unnecessary or doesn’t belong. I have three methods for this: 
1. I show items to my family and friends.
2. I sell valuable items at a minimal cost on Instagram.
3. I place items by the dumpsters for others to take. This method, popular in Europe, helps give unwanted items a second life.

Monitor Your Emotions

Understanding and managing your emotions is vital. Many of us live in a constant state of anxiety. I used to feel this way, despite appearing calm to others. To combat this, I consciously observed my feelings, especially when relaxed, like on vacation or in nature. Recognize these peaceful moments and strive to recreate them in daily life. Monitoring your emotions helps you maintain mental clarity and minimalism.

Control Social Media Consumption

Recently, I spent three days without internet access and realized how much social media consumes our thoughts. Constant scrolling fills our minds with unnecessary information. To practice minimalism in the digital age, become a creator, not just a consumer. Engage actively by sharing your thoughts, experiences, and analyses. This balance of giving and receiving content helps maintain a minimalist mindset in our digital interactions.

In conclusion, embracing minimalism involves making conscious choices, defining your values, regularly decluttering your space, monitoring your emotions, and controlling your social media use. These practices have significantly improved my life, and I hope they can do the same for you.

[Super]

For a long time, I believed that more was the answer to everything. More money, more possessions, more accomplishments—if I could just accumulate enough, I thought, I’d finally feel secure, successful, and happy. It seemed simple: the more you have, the better off you are, right?

But as I chased after more, I noticed something unsettling. With each new thing I acquired—whether it was a bigger paycheck, the latest gadget, or another line added to my resume—the sense of satisfaction I expected didn’t come. Instead, I felt weighed down. My life became cluttered, not just with things, but with responsibilities, commitments, and expectations that I couldn’t seem to escape.

There’s a myth we’re all taught to believe in—the idea that if we just get more, we’ll be happier. But the truth is, the pursuit of more often leads to diminishing returns. Each new thing brings a temporary high, but it fades quickly, leaving us wanting the next big thing. And in that endless cycle, we lose sight of what truly matters.

I realized I was living in a constant state of ‘not enough.’ No matter what I achieved or acquired, it never felt like it was sufficient. I was always looking for the next thing, convinced it would finally bring the contentment I was seeking. But all I was doing was piling on more stress, more clutter, more distractions from the things that actually brought me joy.

That’s when I started to embrace the idea that maybe, just maybe, less could be more. It wasn’t an easy shift to make. We’re conditioned to think that cutting back or simplifying is somehow a sign of failure or giving up. But what if, instead of chasing after more, I focused on pursuing enough? Enough to meet my needs, enough to feel secure, enough to enjoy life without the constant pressure to keep accumulating.

I started to let go. I decluttered not just my physical space, but my mental space as well. I began saying no to things that didn’t align with what truly mattered to me, even if they seemed like opportunities on the surface. I simplified my financial goals, focusing less on the numbers and more on what those numbers represented—freedom, security, and the ability to spend time on what I loved.

As I embraced this mindset, something unexpected happened: I felt lighter. By shedding the excess, I created more space in my life for the things that brought me genuine joy—time with loved ones, creative pursuits, and simple moments of peace. I found that by pursuing enough, rather than more, I actually gained more of what truly mattered.

The myth of more had kept me trapped in a cycle of never-ending pursuit, but minimalism in my goals—financial and otherwise—gave me a new kind of richness. It amplified my sense of freedom and satisfaction, not because I had more, but because I finally had enough.

Now, when I think about my life, I ask myself not how much more I can get, but what I can let go of. How can I simplify, focus, and create more space for joy and fulfillment? It’s not about settling; it’s about understanding that true wealth isn’t measured by how much you have, but by how much you enjoy what you have.

So, what would your life look like if you pursued enough instead of more? What could you let go of to create more space for the things that truly bring you joy and fulfillment? Sometimes, less isn’t just more—it’s everything.