I love the phrase “less is more.” This he repeats several times a day in different situations: what to wear, what cosmetics to use, how to deal with daily difficulties. However, I would like to practice more than I actually do. I've long believed that a simple, minimalist routine is one of the definitive ways to make your day calmer and happier.
“Psychological minimalism is the act of simplifying your lifestyle. This includes the steps we are exposed to, whether emotional or cognitive, to help us focus our thoughts on the present. “It involves trying to let go of the excess information and data that we have,” says psychologist Laura Palomares. To move from theory to practice and turn aspirations into reality, I watched her Netflix documentary The Minimalists: Less Is Now and learned about her 30-day rule, which is the focus of this documentary. .
Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus, creators of the podcast The Minimalists (the show I listen to before bed), are forward-thinkers when it comes to implementing a minimalist approach to living. . The two created a “30-day minimalist game.” The first day of the 30 days begins by getting rid of one thing, the second day his two things, the third day his three things, and so on until the 30th day. It's a simple game at first. Anyone can delete a few items, but in the second week it gets much harder as you need to delete 12 or more items per day. It gets more difficult as the month progresses.
Before giving the process a name, Fields-Milburn took on the challenge of getting rid of one item a day, either by donating, donating, or recycling. I ended up getting rid of even more stuff. In 8 months, I got rid of over 90% of my stuff and now only have things that work and bring me happiness. I haven't finished this challenge yet, but I don't think it would be difficult to get rid of a few things every day. One of the reasons is that I'm not just talking about material things. There have been days when I've spent time deleting photos and files from my phone, and I've found that this process of decluttering and cleaning makes me more aware of excess stuff.
Too much stuff causes stress
This documentary has some memorable facts. For example, an average American home accumulates 300,000 items, and each year more money is spent on shoes, jewelry, and clothing than on higher education. These excess objects that are not used regularly can cause even more stress. To test this theory, Nicodemus stored all his belongings in a box as if he were preparing to move. He realized that 80 percent of the things in the boxes were never unpacked because they weren't needed. The benefits of minimalist living have been verified by psychologist Jose Elias. “Minimalism means enjoying the little things you have because you need them. When you have so much stuff around you, all you worry about is what to do with it and how to store it. Enjoy as much time as possible for yourself.”
be less able to concentrate
“I realized that if I simplified my life, I would have more time for my health, relationships, creativity, career, and I could help others in more meaningful ways. Long before I cleaned out my closet, I understood the benefits of minimalism,” Fields Milburn says at one point in the documentary. It may sound cliché, but after several days of trying to reduce the amount of stuff in my room, especially my wardrobe, I felt relieved. I also decided that instead of getting buried in excessive household chores and material things, I needed to place less value on things in my life and set aside time each day for spiritual well-being.
But the reality is, the more you have, the more you want it. “When we get everything we want, we realize that our predictions about how happy we will be were wrong, because our brain normalizes them.” Desires begin to emerge. What was once a ceiling is now a floor on another level, and there are other ceilings to reach,” says TK Coleman, director of the Foundation for Economic Education. Maybe it's time for a clean-up.