How I Became a Minimalist
If I had to move, I could pack my loft in 5 boxes, with the exception of the furniture.
Yup, that’s it. Five boxes.
Ten years ago as I was getting ready to leave for my second trip to Brazil, my roommate told me that he was moving out at the end of the month. In a day’s time, I made the decision that I would move. It was impulsive, but the first thought that came to my mind and it felt right. Four days later, I sold all of my belongings and shipped five boxes to Atlanta where my mom lived. Two days after that, I went to Brazil for a month.
When I came back to the US after my trip, I only opened three of the boxes. The other two are still collecting dust somewhere. Since then, I’ve maintained a minimal lifestyle and lived with a “five boxes” mentality.
In addition to minimizing my living space, I’ve also made it a point to minimize the overall noise and distractions in my life and received countless benefits. Here are just a few ways I’ve done this:
Unsubscribing from email lists. It’s rare that I have more than 10 emails in my inbox at any given time and it’s not because I’m constantly checking my email. It’s because I don’t get a lot of junk email to begin with. If I receive an unwanted promotional email, I immediately unsubscribe from the list. I count most things as unwanted with the exception of two newsletters that I signed up for.
The phone stays on do not disturb and silent. Unless I’m expecting a call, my phone is on silent. That means 95% of the day, I don’t have any distractions from it. Of course I check my phone periodically, but when I’m focused on accomplishing something, I don’t. I also make it a point to not check it while I’m out with people. Additionally, I always sleep with my phone on do not disturb. When I wake up, I go into my morning routine without any distractions.
Limited wardrobe. Getting dressed doesn’t take me too much brainpower because I don’t have many options. I like to believe that I have style (I like it), but I accomplish it by owning only a few pieces. This allows me to spend time on other things that I value more.
This might all seem extreme for some people and I realize that it won’t appeal to everyone. However, everyone should consider owning less. In 2014, there were 48,500 storage facilities in the US. On top of that, 65% of the people that have a storage unit also have a garage. That’s just entirely too much stuff. Happiness will never be found in things.