My Minimalist Living Journey: Defining How I Want To Live
In January 2018 I read the book Minimalist Living: Decluttering for Joy, Health, and Creativity by Genevieve Parker Hill.
It is a short book, under 100 pages but it really made me define my minimalist living journey.
The Look and Feel of My Minimalist Home
The book asked: What do you want your home to look and feel like?
I want my home to be:
Clean
Airy
Comfortable
Warm
Cozy
Fresh
Spacious
Inviting
Calm
Open
Bright
Urban Jungle-like area
Our Minimalist Statement For Our Home
My Ideal Day
Another core question that Parker Hill asked in Minimalist Living was: What do you want your days to look and feel like?
It is a simple question but I paused and really considered what I wanted for my life and how I needed to organise my days so I can really enjoy my life.
These are essentials for my ideal day:
- Spend more time working from home.
- More time in a community of close friends.
- More time reading and writing.
- Less time in the confines of an office environment.
My Inner Life
The short exercises in the book genuinely shook me up. I needed more than the unconscious acquisition of things and I needed more than heading out to work each day and then getting paid. It was an unfulfilling cycle that I needed to break.
For my inner life I need to consistently work towards having and maintaining:
- Intimacy with my partner
- Less things and more quality experiences.
- More money to finance these quality experiences
- Calm
- Gratitude
- Confidence
- Boldness.
What Minimalism Means to Me
I’ve identified three distinct meanings for my minimalist journey. My minimalism means:
- Letting go of all that does not serve me well.
- Letting go of obsessive thoughts.
- Designing a life based on exactly how I want to live.
The most important tool that I have in this journey is my journal, I continue to journal most days.
In fact one of my favourite journals was the Q and A five-year journal that my team member Stephanie gave me for Christmas. I use this journal every night before bed. Then on weekends are really dive deeply into unpacking all my thoughts and feelings. I free write pages of thoughts and this is my primary means of releasing the obsessive thoughts.
I am happy with my minimalist living journey progress since January 2018.
Have you ever considered minimalism?
If you are on your own minimalist living journey, please share your process below.
Have a joy-filled week.
Chantel DaCosta
Chantel DaCosta is a storyteller, editor and lifestyle blogger. She is passionate about mental health awareness and Jamaican women's own-voices stories.
