One of the major key aspects of minimalism that I have embraced is simplicity. Often times, this aspect has been misunderstood to mean stinginess, miserliness and even extreme frugality but these are all wrong concepts about minimalism.
Simplicity as an aspect of minimalism speaks about prioritizing what is essential to what is not. It is choosing to go for the needful rather than the wanted. It is having a scale of preference rightly ordered in terms of priority and sticking to it with a feeling of being wronged or missing out.
If I have the sum of two thousand dollars as my monthly income and the things on my list that I desire to get are food items, clothes, shoes, jewelry transport, school tuition fee, light and phone bills and books for school. Simplicity helps me to prioritize and choose what is really essential without feeling like I did myself some injustice.
Of course in this case, the shoes and clothes and jewelry are not as important as getting food items, paying my tuition fee, buying the necessary books that I need for school, having money for mobility and also paying light and phone bills to have continuous power supply and communication possible.
Some people might opt to buy the latest trends of clothes, shoes and jewelry and then struggle their way through the month until another pay check arrives and the cycle continues until they are neck deep in debt because of their choices. They feel having the latest wardrobe sets makes them belong to a certain kind of social circle but what they don't realize is that they are setting themselves up for failure.
Clothes, shoes and jewelry are all superficial items that never bring genuine satisfaction. I was trained as a child to value the things that are essential and discard the rest. This doesn't mean that I don't buy clothes, shoes or jewelry rather, I don't get consumed by them to the point where I begin to feel insecure if I don't have them. This living simply has positively impacted my life, making me live life contentedly.
The second aspect of minimalism that I have embraced is intentionality. This goes hand in hand with simplicity. It refers to being intentional about the choices we make. Choosing to save up money for a rainy day is being intentional. Also choosing to prioritize only what is important per time is being intentional but mostly, intentionality is used with finances and the way we acquire possessions.
As a minimalist, I don't just acquire material possessions for the fun of it. I am intentional and you better believe that whatever I get will be something that is essential and functional and something that will clutter up space in my home.
Being intentional with the way I handle my money has positively impacted me to be financially free. I don't go for things that I cannot afford and I'm not sad about it, afterall, I am in competition with nobody.
I do my best each day to live well for my sake rather than what society demands. Everyday, I make intentional choices, live simply and prioritize only the essential. Maximalists would find this lifestyle boring but to me, it is the best form of living.
Thank you all for reading.
Images are mine.
