Minimalist Living: Less is More

- Have you ever feel there are not enough time to do everything?

- Have you ever feel that there is too much stuff  in your house?

- Have you ever spend too much time figuring out a good color combination to wear, or what clothing style to purchase? (especially for men)

You're not alone if you have felt any of these feelings. They're some of the consequences of great advancement of the modern life. There is an abundance of products and services available today, it's a very fantastic time to live.

However, our life has become too complex. I'm not against any complexity, there are things that are naturally complex, such as how our body works. But I'm against the unnecessary complexity.

That's why I am a minimalist.

What is minimalism?

Minimalism is a simple life approach, having and doing what matter most, and getting rid of what matter less.

Try answer this question: What are the most important things in your life?

For me, the answer is:
- My God
- My family
- My partner
- My health
- My finance
- My close friends
- Helping people in need (service and ministry)

If you have kids, you probably will have them in the list.

Now, look at the list, do you see any material things (shoes, bags, house, ...)?

Most people won't have any material things in their list. Mostly, it will consists of people and intangible things.

Taking minimalism approach means that we focus on the items that matters most to us, and get rid of other things that matters less, so that we can focus even more to the items that matters most to us.

So minimalism means to throw all material possessions?

Not necessarily, unless they distract you from spending time with the most important things in your life.

People need material possessions. We need clothes, shelter, food, and many more. As human, we developed tools to help us achieve our goals.

But with the advancement of technology, industry, and cheap products, we now accumulate material possessions at an alarming rate.

We purchase something at impulse and emotions because we can afford them, not because we really need them.

Owning more material possessions than what we need is not only bad for our bank account, it's also taking toll on our limited time account.

- More stuff in our house takes our time to clean, and when we need to move.
- More stuff in our closet takes our time to pick what to wear.
- More stuff in our calendar takes our time to prioritize, and to execute.

It's about living with purpose

I'm not saying that minimalism is a silver bullet for all of our problems, nor something that works for everybody. So, I'm not going to spend my time trying to convince you.

I just want to share that for me, it's a life that is peaceful, simple, and yet rich.

Before we close, let's take a simple test.

Which picture do you like more?

Muji bed room

Cabin bed room design

If you like the first picture more, then maybe minimalism is for you.

We'll talk more about my minimalist practices in the next posts.