Minimalism 101: A Challenge to Myself – and My Shopping Addiction

Every New Year’s Eve, Ramadan, Monday, middle-of-the night breakdown, I vow to make some serious changes in my life. I never actually follow through with anything, but admitting that you have a problem is half the solution. I think.

In any case, ever since I realized that I needed to work on my mental stability, I’ve been Googling non-stop. Anything that included exercise was immediately crossed off my list. Working might be cathartic for some, but it really hurts my soul. Yoga almost seemed like it might be a good idea for a while, but not only am I nowhere near flexible enough, the “calm atmosphere” did nothing to center my soul. Or chakra. You can tell I wasn’t really paying attention.

For a crazy half an hour, I legitimately considered juicing because of how happy those girls looked on Instagram. I didn’t go through with it because I decided I was being ridiculous and ordered pizza. (Spoiler Alert: The solution to all of life’s problems is pizza).

I’ll work on my fitness some other time.

In a last attempt to overhaul my life, I started reading several blogs and podcasts. Several talked about how adopting a minimalistic lifestyle could make you less anxious, more focused and thus more productive.

What? I didn’t say it was going to fix your life. Just make it more livable.

That being said, nothing about me is minimal. I am too much and I own too much. My things and I are very happy together. I own five pairs of the same jeans, 28 perfumes and I do, in fact, have “enough makeup to cover up crazy”. For the longest time, my parents, the credit card companies and I have known that I have a bit of a shopping problem.

I can’t help it. I like objects more than I like people.

But I did connect with minimalism. Their choice in wardrobe was actually quite similar to mine. Minimalistic fashion looked like the happy marriage between Scandinavian street-style and normcore. But being a minimalist apparently meant a lot more than just owning a black, white and grey wardrobe.

After an hour of intense Googling, I was informed that the initiation process into the aforementioned minimalist lifestyle cult included de-cluttering your life i.e. getting rid of all of your stuff.

Now, I like my stuff. I really like my stuff. I am very emotionally attached to my stuff. I wasted a lot of time and money on my stuff.

It’s not hard to understand why so many people are attached to objects. Objects, unlike people, are completely reliable. You picked it out, you liked it, it’s just the way you wanted it to be and it doesn’t make you want to punch it in the face. You can’t own a human, but you can own an object. There’s no denying that you can derive a certain sense of security from that.

Shopping is also about immediate and guaranteed happiness. They don’t call it retail therapy for nothing. You are literally buying temporary euphoria to overcompensate for a lack of happiness in your life. And I do it all the time.

Unfortunately for me, the first task in any of these “how-to” lists I found was throwing out e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Well, not everything. But you understand. Anything you didn’t need/use/wear should be thrown out or preferably donated. Some lists suggested taking pictures of “sentimental” items so you could finally throw them away if they were taking up too much space.

Owning and buying less means you are free from material desire and open to life. Now, you can either choose to shock your system and do this overnight or get rid of things over a longer period of time. After you’ve done that, you’re already halfway there.

In order to fully cement your new-found identity as a minimalist, they suggest you de-clutter your house, eat smaller, simpler and healthier meals, spend more time offline and set realistic priorities. Don’t overcommit to plans with friends or family and don’t pressure yourself at work. There’s a difference between pushing yourself and burdening yourself. Just like objects unnecessarily clutter your space, overcommitting takes up your time. More or less, minimalism was about truly freeing yourself from everything; tangible or intangible.

The most popular list I’ve found seemed to be 30-day challenge designed to ease you into the whole lifestyle. While generally speaking, minimalism did not sound like anything I would do, I decided I’d give it a try this month, anyway. I can’t imagine parting with everything I own anytime soon, but I couldn’t deny the fact that I was intrigued by the idea of potentially being able to lead a calmer, stress-free life.

Give it a try! You might find your soul. Or at least that lost blouse you’ve been looking for.

WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss 30 Things I’ve Learned By 30.