The new year seems to bring a lot of talk about hopping on that minimalism bandwagon and purging all the things people don’t need or want anymore. The minimalism movement gets a lot of play in early January and this year is no exception. One friend is doing a “Month of Minimalism” where you get rid of 1 thing on Day 1, 2 things on Day 2, 3 things on Day 3…and so on, until you’ve gotten rid of 465 things after 30 days.
Like other years, minimalism is on people’s minds. Although more than just things, I’ve been hearing people talking about wanting to simplify, to make things easier, to get rid of extra “noise” in their lives. And it got me thinking…minimalism can apply to more than just things.
The more I reflected on this, the more I realized there are lots of ways our lives are cluttered and we don’t often sit down to figure out how to declutter beyond that overstuffed closet. There are so many areas just waiting for us to sift through the piles and piles of real or figurative junk:
Minimalism for things: What has been up in that closet, shoved at the back of that drawer, or in the corner of the attic that you never use (and maybe forgot was there)?
Minimalism for work: What are all the projects, tasks, or ideas that you’re spending your focus on? Which are the ones that actually move you forward vs. simply take up your time?
Minimalism for relationships: Which relationships leave you feeling motivated, engaged, and energized? Which ones feel obligatory?
Minimalism for health: Of all the ways you could (or maybe do) try to improve your health, which one feels easiest and most enticing to you where you feel like you could really invest attention?
Minimalism for the digital world: What email lists keep dumping emails into your inbox relentlessly? Which apps clog up your home screen but you’ve never clicked on? What photos do you always scroll by but never look at?
What part of your life is waiting for you to take out the extraneous parts to make more space for the few truly precious parts?
