Minimalism was a buzzword in 2014 and it’s gaining real traction for the new year. Somewhere along the way, it went from being more of an arts and design term to something that encompasses an entire lifestyle. There are so many reasons to be drawn to a minimalist lifestyle, like streamlining your wardrobe (thus spending a lot less on clothing!) and making room for the important things. At the same time, there are things in my life that are decidedly not minimal, ranging from the way I hoard scraps of paper to use in craft projects to several to-dos/goals/plans/manifestos going at once, in a handful of different notebooks, my phone, my mind, and mistitled Word documents.
2015 is the year that I streamline and clear away the clutter. But it isn’t the year I become a minimalist. There will likely always be a glittery mess of handmade gift tags scattered across my desk, but I can live without the stack of junk mail buried underneath the rarely worn clothes in one of our dresser drawers. Life is messy; I accept this. I want to create, and when you create, there’s always more of something. Then again, I’ve never been one for DIYs I don’t need in my life—I prefer to spend time on a project that will serve a purpose in some way, large or small.
(Side note: The word intent comes to mind—you don’t have to be a minimalist to live with intent. I thought of making this my word for 2015, yet another goal to hold myself accountable for. After some thought, I decided upon fulfillment. Because certain things don’t necessarily need a clear intention, but they should enrich our lives, yes? Anyway.)
This month I’m taking Into Mind’s 30 Day Minimalism Challenge. It’s the perfect way to really clear the clutter in only a month. It’s almost obsessive how much I am looking forward to the weekend when I’ll declutter my digital life. So necessary. Today I worked on evaluating my commitments. I wrote down things I’ve made tangible commitments to—like work projects—and more subjective commitments that I know are weighing me down, such as that ever-looming task on the to-do simply entitled “write”. In listing everything, I confirmed what I already thought about minimalism. Although there’s 23 commitments on my list, I can only see actually parting with two. I’m really, supremely awful at doing things I don’t like, so it’s no wonder all these commitments are things I want to continue to do.
The hope instead is to organize, clarify, and work things into my schedule in a way that makes more sense in 2015 than it did last year. In ways that all the want-to-dos won’t be trampled by the have-to-dos. (Balance.) In ways I won’t feel like all these things are so much tasks as projects I am passionate about. So there you have it: a few lessons from minimalism for the non-minimalist.
Does a more minimalist lifestyle appeal to you this year?
Loved that post! I feel the same way at the moment : I want to declutter things in my life but I’m not ready for the minimalist trend, be it in home decor, clothing (I love the minimalist trend, but on others. On me it just looks like no-look. So I guess that the capsule wardrobe is not for me), crafting (there is NO WAY I could pair with all the supplies I gathered) etc. But I want to simplify things here and there for sure! I should try this 30-say challenge (though I going to have a hard time with #10, because if my boss is sending me an important e-mail in the morning, I’ll have to look at it…)
So glad you are the same way! Especially with the crafting supplies, ha! I was able to get ONE day where I didn’t go on social media in the morning, and one where I stayed offline all day, but it had to be a Saturday because there was no way I was going to ignore my morning emails! It was so, so nice though.