After moving from a house that we lived in for almost 17 years I realized how much junk we accumulated.  It seemed like every closet was full.  We realized the cold hard fact that there were things lying on shelves, not seen for 15 years. The process of going through all of these lost and found goodies was difficult.  As a matter of fact, minimalism isn’t as easy as everyone says it is.

Why Do I Want To Be A Minimalist

This is a question I really needed to ask myself.  What appealed to me so much about being a minimalist?  Was I going to achieve value by trying to live this way?  I am going to tell you, I want a different lifestyle.  When I realized I was moving and packing things up that had no real significance or value. I was embarrassed.  Minimalism is appealing.  Having so much  STUFF is a burden.  I am not saying we were hoarding things, but I am saying someone else could use or enjoy the things I was storing.

The Difficulty in Minimalism

I found out that it is not always so easy to do.  Reading Marie Kondo’s book,  The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up makes it all sound so easy.  She describes how to pick something up and look at it very objectively and I really wanted to do that.  There just seems to be something cold and detached about doing that.  When I first read the book I thought, “I can do that”.  It will be easy and freeing and I really do believe it will be freeing when I can wrap my mind around releasing everything so easily.  It some was it seems cold and insensitive.  I wanted to know if Marie should be called cold Kondo.  Yet I have clearly seen the effects of collecting too many things around the house.

The Right Time and The Right Mindset

I think the most important part of deciding to go minimal is your mindset.  Like my title says, minimalism isn’t as easy as everyone says it is.  Courtney Carver wrote a post in her blog about the choice we have to live with less.  You can click on her name and it will take you there for the full article.  Although it is not exactly the encouragement I was looking for the title really says it all.  It is titled, Choosing To Live With Less Is A Privilege for Most of Us.  Sometimes we have to just be at the right place and right time. Like this time in my life right now.  I just had to move 17 years worth of collected stuff, and I have been married for 36 years with 4 children.  I needed to see the value in letting go of things.

Having A Lot of Belongings is a Privilege

That thought from Courtney has really got me thinking.  Thinking about the things I pick up in my hands and looking at them as worthless compared to the people in my life.  It has made me realize I am privileged compared to so many people in this world and the accumulation of stuff is not a very worthy endeavor.  I have been granted this life and my place in this world to do more that gather and store stuff.  It makes me think of a squirrel.  They hide acorns all over my yard, but then can’t remember where they put them.  I want to enjoy life and the people in my life without having to worry about storing something and forgetting I even have it later.

Change Your Perspective

Moving is really hard work and letting go of things you keep carrying around can be too.  Minimalism isn’t as easy as everyone says it is.  I talked about the moving in an earlier post, it was crazy those two weeks.  You can read a little about it in the highlighted word, post.  Now that I am on the other side of the move I do not want to stop.  I want to continue to declutter.  I know that what Marie Kondo says is true. We can find joy in letting go of things.  We can find freedom in not having so many things to take care of.  Ownership can be a burden and cause us to not enjoy the people around us.  I am not saying I have perfected this process yet, but I am learning about myself and life.  I am trying to implement having less in my life and enjoy people more.  How about you?  We could all give it a try and enjoy each other more, right?  Honestly, Janet