The world is at a stage where people celebrate possessing things in excess, it's one of the ways to prove that they are living a good life. While it is a receipt of a good life for some humans, it is a complete inconvenience to others and you will agree with me that many individuals are finding comfort and fulfilment in embracing the minimalist lifestyle. At a distance, it doesn't look cool to stick to a few when you can actually have many but when people eventually get an understanding of minimalism, they realise it's one of the paths to having a happy life. The minimalist lifestyle doesn't end with us just living on less, it has to do with saving/prioritizing what matters, our physical and mental health and also looking out for nature.
My Image
Minimalism means a lot of things to people who embraced the lifestyle and funny enough, it is just a passing trend to some humans. We were inspired to adopt the minimalist lifestyle differently, some through books, mentors lifestyle and even random pieces of stuff on the internet but in my case, life taught me to simplify, declutter, and prioritize what truly matters.
The first time I heard about the minimalist lifestyle, I had a clue of what it meant because of the word "minimal" but I didn't know it was what life taught me all through childhood. Life took me through a stage where I had to live on little and seeing my mother survive through that stage taught me minimalism. One of the mistakes a lot of people make is believing that we need things in abundance to live a comfortable life. I won't dispute the fact that it's good to be rich enough to do whatever you want but it is very possible to live with little and still be comfortable, it all depends on our understanding and priorities.
We had to move from a bigger space to a smaller one and my minimalist journey started from there. We settled with little household items and I fell in love with having lots of space. We grew some food and lived as simply as we could just to manage the little money the family was getting. Through those times, I learned to do a lot of things that I am enjoying today.
I have friends who tell me that if the whole world behaves like me, technicians would go hungry. It's never my intention to make anyone grow hungry, it's just impossible for me to pay for things life taught me the hard way.
Seeing our home appliances staying damaged for a long period because we don't have money to fix them made me open things up, look for faults and fix them. I damaged a lot of things in the process of learning but the knowledge became very valuable to me even to date.
My family couldn't eat out back then, it wasn't even an option for us and I realised the importance of preparing my meals as an adult after comparing things. It helps me save a lot, I can make a delicious meal even from the smallest of recipes and a healthy meal is always guaranteed.
Life has a way of teaching us what's best for us but not everyone pays attention. Being able to define what I wanted with life made me stick to a minimalist lifestyle and I am happy about it. Through experiences and the realization that excess does not equate to happiness, I have grown to appreciate the beauty of simplicity.