Embracing Minimalism: 4 Shocking Benefits!

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Ever wonder what the benefits of embracing minimalism can be? I personally never expected a simple decision in my life to lead me towards the minimalist lifestyle, but in doing so, the benefits have been incredible to say the least…

As I’ve been on my personal journey of seeking fulfillment and creating a happier life for myself and my family, it’s been incredible how much tends to come up not only emotionally, but physically as well.

One of the things I was surprised to have shown up in both my mental health journey and my physical way of living was an overall sense and need that I really ought to focus on decluttering.

I have found, especially lately, that as I embrace changes in my life, it takes mental shifts or “mental decluttering” before I am able to see positive results.

In order to grow or shift my mindset, I’ve needed to face some of the beliefs that took residence there and either change them or remove them completely.

I wasn’t really expecting that I would also need to apply this same approach in my actual life.

It’s funny because it seems obvious now, as I have learned more and more that our physical worlds often are a direct reflection of our mental states, but alas, I was still surprised by how much this turned out to be true.

Symbolically, my life was totally the same as my brain. A total mess.

Weird.

“Our Physical Worlds Often Are A Direct Reflection Of Our Mental States”
intricategrace.com

This process of changing things is ongoing, but I am writing this post in an almost “past tense” tone because I intend for the majority of my current life, the things that no longer work for me or the things I’m actively attempting to change, will very soon be just that. Past tense.

This approach to decluttering has definitely been challenging on the mental level for sure when in the middle of doing the actual work, but what I have probably struggled with more than just the mindset work, is the physical clutter it allowed me to see in my home.

As if I was literally blind to it before!

It’s like the more I realized I wanted change, the more my actual surroundings have felt smaller, and more claustrophobic.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all that I have. In fact, I have worked to make sure I practice gratitude daily, and this process of changing my mindset as well as decluttering my life has actually made me MORE grateful than I was even six months ago… I’ll go into this more below.

But as I embrace change, the more change it seems, is needed.

A Shift Towards A Better Life

One of the biggest things that has been on my mind is a feeling that in order to make room for the growth and life I am attempting to create, that I not only need to expand and grow my mindset, but I also need to create space in my physical world for those things to manifest.

I feel like there’s a lot in my home that doesn’t serve me anymore, and I almost resent it because one of the things I’ve had to face mentally is the exact amount of debt my husband and I have accrued.

Facing that number has been daunting to say the least, but to SEE the physical proof of the “things” that have contributed to that number… let’s just say, I was definitely in denial!

So this brings me to the topic of this blog post. How my journey towards self-improvement has ultimately led me to embrace minimalism.

I want to share what the benefits have been, as well as how I’ve had to overcome the art of letting go – because let’s face it, there’s sure been a lot of unhealthy attachments I’ve formed to my way of life that I’ve had to work to detach myself from.

In this first blog post (the art of letting go will be following), I want to focus entirely on the minimalist aspect and the benefits embracing this lifestyle has presented in my life.

Is Minimalism A Coping Mechanism?

What is minimalism, anyway?

It seems our world, at least within this society, is almost defined by excess and consumerism.

I’ve seen a lot in the way of embracing minimalism pop up in different forms lately, especially on HGTV type channels and people like Marie Kondo teaching people how to clean up their lives.

It really is amazing that collecting “things” is often a physical representation of the clutter in our minds, and when trying to embrace change and focus on what truly matters, these “things” need to be faced and dealt with, literally!

I’ve found in my own journey of embracing more of the minimalist lifestyle, that it hasn’t just been about owning less things, or throwing everything away just because – but by having the ability to embrace simplicity and stop overcomplicating everything! (AKA my mental state for pretty much my whole life)

To Define MINIMALISM: it’s a philosophy that advocates simplifying one's life by intentionally focusing on the essentials and the meaningful, and eliminating the excess.

I’ve found it hasn’t just been about focusing on material belongings, as I mentioned above, this whole thing started with the intent to change my mindset!

So it should come as no surprise that it’s also started to encompassed more aspects of my life, including my relationships, commitments, etc.

By working on simplicity overall, I’ve found that the benefits are endless.

Not only does minimalism extend beyond a clutter-free home, by working to simplify my life (starting with my home), it not only has helped my mindset, but it’s made space for other things like connection and creativity!

Is it a coping mechanism? Well, it’s definitely helped my mental health in more ways than one.

How exactly has it helped me (beyond mindset and having a cleaner home), you might ask?

4 Surprising Benefits Of Embracing Minimalism

#1 It’s helped reduce stress and anxiety.

I can’t believe how much clutter in my home was adding to my stress and anxiety levels! In this way specifically, a coping mechanism it has definitely become!

Sure, I could tell you I’d always be frustrated by opening my junk drawer and hating what I saw, but instead of doing anything about it, I’d just slam it shut and try to forget about it.

This was the case with almost every drawer and closet in my house. Instead of dealing with “things” I’d just “hide” them behind closed doors and drawers.

Talk about symbolism.

Needless to say, decluttering my home has really improved my mental state in amazing ways as I feel like I can breathe and that nothing is “looming” like a physical monster behind every closed door.

#2 I’ve had greater clarity and focus.

Without feeling like I have so much to do, like clean out my junk drawers or closets, or better yet – ignore them, I realized how much just ignoring things and being surrounded by it physically created an energy cloud around me.

Just because I didn’t see it didn’t mean I didn’t feel it!

I believe EVERYTHING has energy, and I truly think that the energy of clutter has a physical presence that in turn impacts my focus and mental health.

It’s amazing that by addressing the clutter, not only do things look better visually, I can actually FEEL the difference.

#3 Financial benefits

Not only has decluttering my home and focusing on getting the things I don’t need out, whether by selling them, donating them, or throwing them away if they’re beyond help, it’s given me a leg up financially because the more I’ve gone through and found I had this excess of “things” that weren’t even worth much, it gave me insight into how much I didn’t need it in the first place.

Sure, this doesn’t apply to everything, but by recognizing how easy it was to mindlessly bring things into the home, gave me greater control over what I have bought since starting this journey, and I’ve found I make smarter decisions by asking myself “will this truly serve me if I buy it?” If the answer is no, I’ve been able to put it back and not give it another thought.

#4 Improved relationships

It’s incredible how just the efforts made to clean up my home has really impacted my relationships with my husband and kids.

With the better energy in our home like I mentioned above, and just not having so much weighing on my mind, it’s provided just an overall better sense of well being which I think has really helped me be more present.

The kids seem happier with less going on around them, and my husband seems genuinely happy to come home because it’s become this safe place where he can truly breathe. Not that it wasn’t before, but it’s definitely better now.

It’s also helped me focus on people who come over to visit, cause I’m no longer worried about what they might see, or if they’ll judge my disarray.

I feel it’s important to add that this is an ongoing effort, and my home is in no way “always clean”.

I’ve said multiple times now within this blog that I’m not perfect so I think it’s also safe to say my home isn’t either!

But these are just the benefits I’ve seen in starting this process towards minimalism in my journey towards self-improvement, and I think they’re pretty inspiring.

Steps Toward A New Way Of Living

So what exactly have I been doing to embrace this new way of thinking and living? Well, first I started with my mindset.

I made the choice to improve because I found that the way I was living, especially who I found myself to be after suffering through postpartum depression, was not who I wanted to be.

Read: Is This Motherhood? Keep An Open-Mind.

My life definitely wasn’t how I envisioned nor wanted it to look like.

So I made the choice to change things as I’m the only one who could.

So after I made the decision, which I feel is the most important part, I then had to figure out what actions I had to take in order to get to what I wanted.

One thing seems to lead to another after you make a choice like that. It’s crazy how the world will present things to you when you’re decisive.

But let’s break down the steps I’ve taken so far after that initial CHOICE.

I started the process of decluttering

This has already been talked about, but I just had to start somewhere and this was definitely where I started.

I told myself I’d just do one area each day. No matter how small.

Starting with my kitchen, I emptied a cabinet and donated or put aside everything that I no longer wanted. Each thing I knew others might be able to use, I put aside for a garage sale.

Then, after cleaning out the space, I only put back what I knew my family actually needed or used regularly. I did this same thing with each new space I worked on and little by little I made my way through my home.

I’ve started practicing mindfulness towards consumption

I had to adopt a “less is more” mentality, especially when shopping.

Frankly, I’m surprised that this hasn’t been too hard because of how much effort I’ve had to put into getting rid of the things I had.

So by asking myself if something shiny at the store is really something that I need, or how it will serve me beyond just my current want of it, has really helped me take less home, and in turn help my spending. A win-win.

I’ve simplified my commitments

I had to evaluate everything I had going on in life, and see what was causing most stress.

If it hasn’t been something that brought joy or genuinely helped me in some way, I’ve made the decision to not do it anymore.

By saying no to commitments just for the sake of not feeling guilty, doesn’t serve my mental health, and I’ve found the more you say no and respect your boundaries or capabilities, the better you feel.

I started a digital detox

As things started to clear up around me, it brought to the forefront that my family’s use of digital absorption was immense.

Not only were my kids seeming to have tantrums and worse attitudes when watching TV most the day, I noticed that when I would be on my phone, or laptop, or even reading a book on an app vs. a physical one, then my own behavior would be worse.

I’d be way more frustrated throughout the day, which would lead to being super short tempered with my girls (this would spiral towards self-criticism, mom guilt, etc!)

Read: From Guilt to Grace | The “Mom Guilt” Survival Guide

So I made the decision to limit our screen time and actually force myself to “think” about ways to entertain ourselves. It’s crazy how much creativity is suppressed with the use of electronics.

Again, I’m not perfect at this, and we’re not a “no electronic” household, but there’s been a huge shift in just limiting it to less time more and more each day rather than keeping the tv on from sun up until sundown, which i admit was the case before…

I’ve cultivated a better sense of gratitude

Above the physical actions I’ve discussed and continue to work on, I’ve had more gratitude in general.

Decluttering my home, and going through each small nook and cranny, has helped to see how much we really had in the first place (and continue to have with what I haven’t gotten rid of), and how blessed my family actually is.

By consistently feeling gratitude towards what I currently have, it’s helped shift my mindset from that state of lacking into more of a contentment that I find important to mention.

Interested in a few items that really helped me embrace this new way of life? When I started, I was so overwhelmed… These really helped show me some “how-to’s” that were beneficial.

Check these out:

Conclusion:

When I made the decision to make some changes in my life, I really didn’t expect the amount of things to show up in order for small changes to be made.

I certainly didn’t expect that I’d start this massive spring cleaning endeavor and go through everything hidden throughout my home.

In fact, I actually thought we didn’t have much! That I was already pretty “minimalist”!

This BAFFLES me now!

Man, I can’t believe how much I played tetris in my own closets!

I admit, I’m super embarrassed how much it made me feel like I was a hoarder in a way…

Although I know that’s not technically the case, it’s been by my efforts in cleaning out the things we don’t need, where I came to the realization that in doing this work, it’s become what I now view as a physical act of faith towards creating the life I’m envisioning.

My hope is that within the next year or so, our debt will be paid off in full and that the way will open up for us to buy a new home that better fits our growing family’s needs.

To me, this act of clearing out what we don’t need is a direct help towards that goal because if we were to move, I can tell you how much less stress it will be not to have to bring all of those “things” with us!

It’s my way of preparing for the future I’m working to create.

It’s been a pleasant surprise that the simple act of deciding I want to change, then starting to clean my house, in turn has led to cultivating greater joy in my home, feeling less stress and anxiety, and gave me an overall sense of gratitude that I didn’t have before towards what I have RIGHT NOW in my life. That alone makes this process worth it.

What are some ways you’ve seen your life improve for the better just by decluttering your home? And what are some methods you’ve tried that have helped you simplify the process?

Please share by commenting below.