Becoming a minimalist
The Minimalist Survey Series, part 1.
Earlier this year I created a survey and asked readers about their experiences of minimalism. This series describes the themes in the responses, I hope you find them as interesting as I did.
I asked the question: What do you feel are the best things about being a minimalist for you ?
In response you said:
Health – less stress, less anxiety, better health and mind. Less stress being the most often mentioned health benefit.
Freedom – this one was consistently the greatest benefit in your responses. Both a sense of mental freedom as well as physical.
Space – clear space, you see less clutter, there’s even more light in the environment you live.
Financial – spending less on stuff gives you an opportunity to save more and spend money on experiences instead of physical items.
Calm – you said that life was calmer and more peaceful.
Environment – an uncluttered environment reduces stress. Not seeing the clutter is a trigger to negative emotions. You said there’s even less housework.
Time – being minimal and having less to maintain, tidy and concern you, gives you more time, or possibly the feeling you have more time.
Relationships – there was a mention of also minimising ‘friends’. I took this to mean the fair-weather friends or those who perhaps weren’t really friends at all.
The important things – another strong theme in your responses. That removing the clutter made room for concentrating on what was really important in life. Relationships, family and friends. Some described this as a new found focus.
In your responses, many of them were emotional descriptions. Perceptions possibly in some cases, but all were positive. A few people even described minimalism as an opportunity to rediscover themselves.
Becoming a minimalist was first featured on the blog, Two Less Things.
