The philosophy of minimalism might be just what you are looking for, as we never before have worked harder and consume more than we do today. The amount of daily constant information can be overwhelming. This is where minimalism comes into play.

Is minimalism a philosophy? Minimalism is a way of life, where the philosophy focuses on getting rid of things you do not actually need. This is to find greater value in life, beyond your possessions. Furthermore, the philosophy is not a set of rules, but rather guidelines to help you live a more simple life. The way of living simple in minimalism is to get rid of every unnecessary possessions, clutter, distractions and waste. And furthermore to aim for a more natural, frugal, dept-free, stress-free life. The philosophy of minimalism states that by getting rid of excess things and emotions, you can focus on what is more important. The importance of family, life missions and dreams flourishes, and stress and anxiety can simply vanish.

The science and philosophy of minimalism

Individual problem solving

“Less is more”. The aim for minimalists is to reduce the overwhelming feelings of stress, anxiety, poor attention span and impulsive buying (overconsumption), by reducing the amount of clutter, distractions and waste they have in their life. By simply changing the way people think about material possessions and emotional clutter, will simultaneously change the way they view consumerist trends. Therefore, one can say that minimalism is a philosophy where the person simply have another way of looking at consumerism, whats essential in life, and their own basic needs. The sense of awareness of the things and situations around them increases.

Thus, the amount of stuff a minimalist have, obviously depends of the individuals view on their own basic needs, the essentials in life, and what ultimately gives them joy in life.

The short lived happiness of money does not really make us happy. A study conducted by P. Brickman & CO in the 70s studied the case of happiness in people where the financial goals had come true. His major finds was that people who had won millions in the lottery, where not happier than the control group of people that only had their basic needs met.

Furthermore, another study from 2007 by Chaplin and John shows us that there are strong correlation between self-esteem and materialism. By inducing high self-esteem in adolescents, reduces materialism quite drastically.

A newer study from 2020, states that the correlation between low-consumerism and positive emotions, increased awareness, competence and calmer mental space seems to be true. This study were of a lower participant scale, which might create som skepticism. However, we might be able to draw conclusions of our own anyway, as plenty of influencers and other individuals are living proofs of how minimalism has changed their life.

Bigger society driven problems

Overconsumption, supernormal stimuli and the constant hustle of society today, stresses us out. Whether we are conscious about it or not, we constantly exposes ourself to these toxic things in social media.

Overconsumption is an act of using, buying or consuming more than what one need, in order to be satisfied. Advertising and marketing professionals, as well as social media and influencer exploits the consumers drive and needs of status. The overconsumption and materialism gives us artificial feelings of comfort, self-worth and recognition. However, as the cultural forecaster James Wallmans states, it just a “suffocation”, as it only increases the anxiety of the modern life.

Supernormal stimuli describes an over-exaggerated stimuli of something that we already have an existing response to, and which also gives us a stronger response than what is natural. For instance are junk food, social media/the internet, pornography and TV & gaming examples of this. In the modern society, we have a tendency of getting to much of this stimuli in which some research has shown to be of negative impact on our lives. According to some sources, some of these stimulus have shown to cause both depression and anxiety amongst people, as well as loss of cognitive functions.

In context of this, we also get exposed of things where we might feel like we constantly need to hustle. In order to buy more stuff, get the biggest house, car, etc., we need to work more. These constant feelings, might be conscious, but a lot of the times they are not. Because of the society and medias influence, these feelings of wanting more, consumes us instead. Stress levels peak and happiness levels decline.

Conclution

This was quite a mouthful wasn’t it? I get it, normally in our daily life, we do not even think about the consequences of our clutter and emotions. Yet alone how they influence our emotional state, stress levels and wellbeing in general.

This is where minimalism comes into play. I truly do believe that there are some individual differences out there. The only way you can figure out whether minimalism is worth the shot or not, is to try it for yourself.

For me, it has certainly helped me in several different ways. I can truly say with all honesty that my overall life quality has improved. These are just a few different aspects of my life that minimalism has effected in a positive way:

• My personal economy (I do not longer buy a lot of new things and clothing).
• Better focus, as I am no longer distracted by the clutter around me.
• More conscious decisions when it comes to buying new things. Do I actually need it to be happy or to function in life?
• Increased awareness of the problem consumerism and materials cause out environment
• More joy and feelings for the thing I actually own. I take better care of them instead of just tossing it and buying new.
• My conscious interest in buying of used stuff, mending, thrifting and upcycling has definitely increased.
• Increased focus on other essential parts of my life, like family, job, dreams and happiness.

Are you ready to try it out? I have made a short beginner guide to help you make some easy steps towards your own version of less things.

A short beginners guide to get started

Minimalism is all about how the meaning of less feels to you. There are no set of rules, just guidelines. The thought is to declutter you home, the space you surround yourself in, digital decluttering and emotional decluttering. But where do we begin?

I made you a short and simple 5 step guide to how you can get started as a minimalist beginner. This list have helped me through my journey decluttering my home and I am positive it will help you too. The 5 steps are made easy for you so you do not have to feel too overwhelmed by the process:

5 step beginner guide to minimalism

1. Start by listing down all the rooms, or items you want to declutter. For instance you can divide them into bathroom, kitchen etc. You can also list items such as draws, closet etc. This will make it easier to sort out the items or rooms you want to tackle first.
2. List the individual items or rooms down on different days of the weeks. If you have too much going on in your daily life, you can choose to only have one decluttering day once a week. Anything that suits you the best.
3. Start to go through every item or room on the list. By taking all the items out of draws and cabinets it might be easier for you to get an overview.
4. Divide the things into three piles:
   • Keep, donate/toss and lastly a maybe-pile.
   • To make it easier for you to decide, old every single item in your hands and ask yourself these three questions:
     • Does this item truly make me happy or fulfilled?
     • Do I use this item every week or at least every month, meaning it is useful to me?
     • If I had seen this item in the store today, would I buy it again?
5. Place the “keep” items where they belong. Donate or get rid of the things you want to let go. The maybe pile is a pile you probably could not decide about. I will encourage you to put the items in the maybe-pile away in a box and store it in a cabin. Then, in the course of 3 months, if you feel the urge to go back and grab an item, you can decide to keep it. When 3 months has passed, take some time to go through the maybe-pile again, and decide whether you really need them or not.

Remember: Some things and clothing are seasonally. These include things like christmas decorations or clothing like winter warm clothes or skies, etc. I will encourage you to wait to declutter these things to the season begins, and then do the same process above.

Further guidance and links to get started

If you need some further inspiration to declutter in your life, I will encourage you to have a quick search on google for some guidance. There are plenty of individuals, Youtubers and influencers that practice the philosophy of minimalism. Here is a list of my top favorite ones:

• The Minimalists (Website)
• Balance Through Simplicity (Website)
• Matt D’Avella (Youtube)
• Pick Up Limes (Youtube)
• Heal Your Living (Extreme Minimalism, Youtube)