8 Benefits of Decluttering Your Life
Minimalism is not just a design or décor style, it’s a way of life. In this society that prides itself on the accumulation of possessions, minimalism is a way to put a stop towards the gluttony of the world around us.
Minimalism has a lot of benefits and living with a less is more motto can be liberating. You may live in a hdb rental. You may have a lot of space. It doesn’t matter. Decluttering your life offers more benefits than just space. Read on see some of the benefits of living with fewer possessions.
1. Create room for what’s important
All of us have one too many things in our homes. With each purchase and each gift, we bask in the light of its potential, getting excited by the initial value the new item brings to our lives. Over time, their value wanes, the glossy newness wears off, and our excitement about that item dissipates. When these possessions stop adding value to our lives, it’s time to get rid of them. When we declutter our belongings of the unused and unneeded, we create space for what’s really important. The myriad of junk that inevitably piles up in our homes can lead to feelings of claustrophobia. By getting rid of what we don’t need, we create room to breathe, as well as room to fill our lives with more meaning instead of just material possessions.
2. More freedom for the moment
The accumulation of our worldly possessions is, in fact, an anchor that ties us down. We often look at the things we enjoy and we want to hold on to them forever. We expect that these material things will continue to add some value to our lives. Thus, we are constantly afraid of losing the things we own, because that would mean losing the things we enjoy. However, there is more to life and the things we enjoy than just material possessions. Lest we forget, there are also the experiences and relationships. Ultimately, we must learn to let go of our fixation on material possessions. When we learn to let go and accept that we can’t retain everything and still lead meaningful lives, we are freeing ourselves to be in the moment. Life will only be fulfilling when we allow ourselves to live in the moment, and to feel the moment.
3. Focus on health and hobbies
When you spend less time focusing on your possessions, you free up more time for the things you truly love and the things you never seem to have time for. We always say that we don’t have enough time. We don’t have enough time for this, we don’t have enough time for that. How many of us really stop and evaluate our lives and really look at what we are really spending our time on? Rather than going shopping for stuff that ultimately does not bring us true happiness, take the time and spend it on something more meaningful. Spend a day with your family, hit up the gym, read a good book, or even go travelling. Whatever it is that you love doing, you could be doing.
4. Less focus on material possessions
The stuff we own is merely a material distraction. We buy them with money, and money, though it can buy comfort, can’t buy true happiness. We are filling a void with our focus on material items. We buy and buy and buy to make ourselves happy. However, after the initial comfort wears off, the void is still there: it’s an empty path. This is where our obsession with the money and material should end. We live in a world of the media constantly hounding us with promises of happiness through consumerism. It’s hard not to struggle when we’re seeing advertisements after advertisements urging us to shop. It’s hard not to get roped into the trap. Constantly remind yourself of that it is a false sense of happiness. Learn to enjoy your stuff, but also recognize that you don’t truly need it to be happy.
5. More peace of mind
Let us reiterate the idea again: when we are focused on everything we own, we create stress because we are afraid to lose everything we own. This fear causes us to cling onto our belongings and our possessions. When you declutter your life, you are simplifying it. When we lose our attachment to material belongings, we create the space needed for a calm, peaceful mind. The less things we have, the less we have to worry about. The more space we have, the more peace we have. Simple as that.
6. More happiness
When you declutter your life, you invite happiness in. The clutter in life is like a broken shield against life’s true essence. Happiness naturally comes when you get rid of the things that don’t matter, because then you will truly see the things that matter most. You break free of the false promises in all the clutter and gravitate towards what truly makes you happy. You will also find yourself being more efficient, where concentration comes with you having your refocused priorities. By getting rid of the things that matter less, you will find joy and happiness when you embrace what matters most.
7. Less fear of failure
When you learn to let go of everything and only focus on what you truly love, you learn that you may lose everything, but you truly don’t have anything to lose. When you aren’t plagued with the fear of losing your worldly possessions and belongings, you will have more drive to combat whatever life throws at you. Obviously, this does not mean you should risk everything – you still need a roof over your head – but knowing that you have no fear of it helps and drives you to take more risk in whatever you wish to pursue.
8. More confidence
The entire idea of the minimalist lifestyle is that it promotes individuality and self-reliance. It instills in you the confidence. The confidence that comes when you recognize that you don’t need everything to be happy in life; that you can live with less. It instills the confidence you need in your pursuit of happiness, and in the journey that we call life.
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