When I mention the word minimalism to people in my 'real life', I'm met with somewhat of a confused and slightly judgmental look. Maybe they just don't quite understand the whole living with less kinda thing. I come from a family who are by no means materialistic and constantly strive to own better things, but between us we own a lot. Money has never been abundant, yet spending and owning 'things' has always been a lifestyle for my family, it's just the way it is. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, I have no desire to 'convert' any other members of my family to my new way of thinking, but I certainly want to change my own habits/lifestyle.
So why minimalism? How did I stumble upon this whole new way of life? I actually found myself watching a youtube video, a Ted Talks 'minimalism' speech from Angela Horn (here's the video for those interested) ... this video impacted me instantly. The words spoken, the issues addressed and the notion that the less you own, the more you have just stuck a chord with me. Angela spoke about her parents' house being filled with boxes inside boxes, piles of new towels just waiting to be used - and why? I didn't know the answer, but I knew that I too had things stored in a 'safe place' just waiting to be used, a stock pile of products unused, clothes for special occasions that never came and insignificant momentos which right now, I can't even remember.
The video I watched that day, led to me searching the web for minimalism, which is quite a common story among other minimalist blogs I have read. I can safely assume that a large percentage of minimalists discovered the lifestyle in a similar way ... video/social media, google, questionning the minimalist way and feeling intrigued. That's certainly what happened to me.
After this almost instant inspiration from Angela Horn's video, I began to read more minimalism blogs and watch more videos for inspirations on how to even go about beginning this journey. I soon set off with the mission to get rid of the crap in my life, whether it was physical crap or mental crap that was cluttering my life. I discovered belongings I didn't even recognise and continued to sift through the piles of clothes, makeup and other material posessions in my bedroom - eager to discover the next thing I could throw away. It felt refreshing and I liked it - you can read about my 'initial purge' here, and I've also documented my 'project 333' here.
And so the journey began ...
