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Many folks get excited when they find out about my minimalist journey and often this excitement moves them to jump into their own minimalist – but often not successful – lifestyle. Why are they not successful? The reason is because they did not take the time to consider the whole picture and the drastic change of going from excess to minimalism caused many to feel deprived.
The thing to remember is that nothing will happen overnight for any goal you have. If you are trying to lose weight, you did not gain that weight overnight so why would you expect to lose it overnight? It does not happen that way. From a common sense approach, you know you need to take baby steps every single day with eating clean and exercising and the weight will come off consistently. It is the same thing with minimalism. You did not accumulate everything in your home overnight so do not just pack it up and take it all to the thrift store because chances are you will quickly re-accumulate everything that you just got rid of. Think of a closet in your house that you have cleaned out. Before you know it, it is filled up again and you are not even sure how or when it happened!
Don’t get me wrong – cold turkey does work for many things for many people. One example would be quitting smoking. Sometimes the best thing you can do is decide on a quit date and just quit. For other lifestyle changes, it is not so easy as in the case of losing weight. You cannot just stop eating and expect to lose weight because you create a whole new set of physical problems. You have to modify your food and exercise and many times it is easier to make one change at a time like replacing the sodas you drink with water. After you have adjusted to the first change, you change something else like adding 30 minutes of exercise in the evening after dinner.
For me that is what worked on my minimalism journey. If I would have simply emptied out my house when I first began my journey, I believe I would be right back where I started – still spending money on lots of stuff I do not need. The process of really thinking about each item and the emotional attachment we have to these items can be difficult especially in the beginning. Some rooms were easier to declutter than others. I am not much for the kitchen so getting rid of appliances and other tools that I did not use was easy. When it came to the bedrooms, however, it was another story. How could I get rid of my daughter’s prom dress without asking her? I did not feel comfortable making that type of decision without talking to them and in this case, I asked Aly if she wanted it. Her answer was no so I put it in the donate box. The process of thinking about each item as I was purging put a whole different spin on how or when I buy anything today. When I saw the amount of clothes with tags on them I was shocked. When and why did I buy all those clothes and never wear them?
If and when you decide to venture down the minimalism path, take your time. If you are like me, you will enjoy the full benefits of living minimally but do it on your terms.
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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