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I am asked so many times what made me decide to live a minimalist lifestyle and the answer is actually a simple one. The answer is because it’s better for me and where I am on my journey in my life. And it has been a journey. The way I thought even 10 years ago is drastically different that how I think today. Today my thinking is more worldly where ten years ago, my thinking was only about my family and our needs.
I used to spend so much money and time running around purchasing then maintaining things that I really didn’t need in my life – and putting myself deeper in debt as a direct result. When I figured out how much time and ESPECIALLY money I was spending every month to the point that we considered bankruptcy while my husband was not able to work from an injury, it became crystal clear that using credit cards to maintain our “lifestyle” was not a very good financial plan.
For me getting out of debt was a very powerful motivator to begin and keep my minimalist lifestyle. Sometimes I still have moments of temptation or weakness where I purchase something that I didn’t need or didn’t need YET like my running shoes but those moments are few and far between and I still keep to my something in, something out approach in my home, closet and especially with my sneakers and flip flops or this girl will be right back where she started – and I have no plans to go back to that lifestyle.
So how will you find your motivation to live a minimalist lifestyle? It may be as a direct result of an issue in your life as was my initial motivation. However, I have continued living this lifestyle and my current motivation is because I want to leave this world a better place than what it is now. Of course it will take more than just me to see this happen but maybe as more and more people become aware of how living minimally is better for our children, our children’s children and the world as a whole, they too will choose to use only what they need to use to leave this world a better place.
Living minimally takes on many faces as each of us differs significantly in how we view the world. Right now I see a world where our resources are being rapidly depleted and not replaced. I see a world where no fuel alternatives are being developed to become cost effective for people to use and easier on our planet. On the flip side, I also see a world where people are kind to one another. Unfortunately we see more kindness in trying times than in good times as people reach out to help each other but why cannot we be like this every day?
Back in the 80’s Coca Cola created a commercial that still resonates with me today. It was a group of celebrities singing “We Are The World.” Nothing has changed because we are still the world but we each need to step up and make this a world worth living in. We need to take a stand and not use resources that we do not need to use. We need to take a stand and stop waiting for some power to fix what’s wrong and fix it ourselves.
It was not my goal for this post to sound preachy and hope you read it in the manner in which it was written. Each of us is on our own minimalist journey and the choices you make are yours. Your journey is your journey but at the end of the day, we all have many things in common. Let’s find those things and work toward a better world.
Blessings,
Denise
For tips on how to begin your decluttering journey, you can Start Here, or snag a copy of the 30 Day Challenge (our Minimalism and Decluttering eBook).
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