Estimated Reading Time 8 Minutes
Hey You! I’m Emily Romrell and you’re listening to The Vibrant Life Podcast. How are you doing my friends? I’m doing great. It’s been a good week. I was able to hang out with a few friends and work on some projects. I hope you had some good times as well.
You know, it’s the little simple things that bring us the most joy. I love the book Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery and that story highlights this idea in many ways. There’s even a quote I love in the book where Anne says, “I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.” I think that quote holds so much truth.
One of the projects I worked on this last week was going through my clothes and donating stuff I don’t use anymore. I got to thinking about the benefits of decluttering a space and enjoying simple things. So today we’re talking about minimalism.
So hang in here with me, Peeps. I know minimalism is a word that holds different meanings for different people and it can sometimes trigger strong emotions. When it comes to most philosophies, I’m a big believer in a happy medium. (You can even listen to an outdated episode of the podcast on The Happy Medium that I did a few years ago on my website if you’re interested. I’ll put a link in the show notes.) But honestly, I’m not the kind of minimalist that strips everything down to the bare bones. I’m not really down with the spartan mentality.
Maybe one of the best definitions of minimalism out there comes from Linda Breen Pierce. She wrote a book called Choosing Simplicity and did a study on over 200 people who wanted to simplify their lives. She says, “Simplicity involves unburdening your life, and living more lightly with fewer distractions that interfere with a high quality life, as defined uniquely by each individual.” I love that.
I like this quote because I believe in the principle of uncluttering your life in meaningful ways and I also believe that will look different for everybody. That’s how it is with a lot of life lessons, right? When you implement new concepts and ideas into your life, you change them up to fit your needs. This is different than adjusting the truth to fit your needs. Truth is truth and that doesn’t change. I mean two plus two is always going to equal four and the sun is always going to rise in the East. But as we all learn and grow and our understanding of what is true deepens, I believe that we can adjust our lives to be more aligned with what is true. We don’t have to be perfect. We can just take baby steps and continue to grow and become better. I think that’s important to remember. It helps prevent us from becoming overwhelmed.
I think the underlying idea behind minimalism is decluttering your life so that you can live your best life. There is a major lie in society that more is always better. And that is not true. The right amount is just the right amount but if you’re in doubt, my advice is to aim for that happy medium.
So let’s talk about how to take some baby steps and declutter some different areas in our lives. The obvious place to start is with our physical world or the material things, right? That’s what everyone thinks about when you mention minimalism, getting rid of possessions.
There’s a saying I was taught when I was young that helps me out a lot. “A place for everything and everything in its place.” It cuts right to the point. We need to be organized. That is the first step. If you don’t know where something goes, then it will probably end up on a counter or stuffed in a corner somewhere. It doesn’t take long for things without a home to pile up. And personally, I find it satisfying to be organized and know where things belong.
Sometimes when I’m stressed or my thoughts are running away with me, I’ll look around my house and realize that I’ve let my physical space get a bit out of control as well. I haven’t put my laundry away and there is a pile of junk mail on the counter, or maybe I’ve left books and blankets lying around, or whatever. Often our outer surroundings reflect what’s happening on the inside. And simply cleaning up and putting things back in order settles a lot of inner anxiety.
Another thing that I find helpful is keeping the correct number of things around. As I’m putting this podcast together for y’all there is a fly buzzing around that is driving me bonkers. I have my flyswatter next to me ready for battle. And this is a silly example, but I only need one flyswatter. More than one is an excess of what I will use. It’s easy for us to collect things that we think will be useful, especially if they’re on sale, right? But a really useful concept of minimalism is that we should only keep what we actually use.
A while back I decided I wanted to upgrade my closet so I bought a set of cedar hangers. I like the way they smell, and they are supposed to be a natural deterrent for bugs. Anyway, it’s been super helpful for me to only have enough hang-up clothes that will fit on that set. I have a small chest of drawers as well that I keep t-shirts and jeans in etc. But when I buy something new, I try to think about something old that I maybe no longer wear or use and eliminate that. It really helps keep the closet clutter at bay. And it makes choosing what to wear a lot more meaningful in my opinion.
A few years ago, Marie Kondo came out with a book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and she talks about only keeping things that ‘spark joy’ for you. I think that’s a good rule to go by. If something brings you pleasure from owning it that’s great. Keep it. I mean my book collection just keeps growing and that brings me a lot of joy. I think the secret is to know the difference between an item that sparks joy and possessions that you just keep around because you might need them someday. If you’re honest with yourself, you won’t go wrong.
Another good practice is to dejunk every six months to a year. If you have possessions that you haven’t used in six months to a year, it’s probably a good idea to let those things go. I’m not talking about truly sentimental items. Obviously, you will want to keep your photos, and Christmas decorations, and your wedding dress, or whatever else is really special to you. Just use your common sense and you’ll be fine.
But here’s the truth, when you get rid of physical things you don’t need, your physical space is happier and healthier. Not only that, but your spirit feels happier and lighter because everything is connected. To me, that’s embracing minimalism. Keep just enough of the things you need and what truly sparks joy for you.
The second part of this idea is decluttering your thoughts and emotions. It’s so easy to carry old beliefs inside that really don’t help us anymore, if they ever did. There’s a beautiful quote by Najwa Zebian that says, “These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.” A similar saying that I love is “You can’t fly until you let go of what weighs you down. It can be difficult but becoming aware of ideas that we are carrying that are heavy and that weigh our hearts down is critical. Once we are aware of the thoughts that don’t serve us, we can let them go. These could be thoughts like: I’m a horrible singer, or I’m no good at math, or this person doesn’t like me, or I’m not brave enough to try something new. It takes guts to look inside yourself and dig up the heavy things that weigh your heart down. It takes even more guts to let them go. But again you will be so much happier and healthier for it.
I’m talking about a lot of books in this episode, but I love books so you’ll just have to deal with it. (I’ll put links to the books in the show notes if you’re interested.) But a classic book that shows us how to become minimalists spiritually and emotionally is The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan. It’s a Christian allegory and the main character who funnily enough is called Christian has this giant burden on his back, and he has to go through the perils of life before he can let go of his burden at a cross and it finally rolls away.
I’ve read The Pilgrims Progress and it’s great, but I especially like how this book is used in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. She starts her book with an epigraph which she adapted from Pilgrim’s Progress. Near the beginning of Little Women each of the March girls are given a copy of Pilgrim’s Progress at Christmas and they even play-act the story for fun as children putting together little bundles and climbing the stairs up to the attic. But the real connection is that each of the four girls has a fault that they are trying to overcome and that turns into the plot of the book. Jo is too rough and wild. Meg is vain and thinks too much of her looks and being popular. Amy hates being poor and is obsessed with becoming rich. And Beth honestly is extremely good but she overcomes her shyness and fear. Throughout the book we watch each girl grow up and overcome her shortcomings.
This is another way to think about minimalism in our lives. We can declutter our souls from failings that hold us back and then spiritually we are that much happier and healthier. The process of letting go of characteristics or shortcomings may take a bit longer, but the process is the same. We identify things that don’t have a place or a home in our lives, and we work on letting those things go.
Anyway, I hope some of these thoughts this week have resonated with you guys. The challenge this week is to take a look at an area in your life that is cluttered. It could be physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. But take a good look at a cluttered area in your life and sincerely consider what you might be willing to eliminate. Again this is a process and you don’t have to be perfect all at once. Just take those baby steps. You can do it and if you choose to do it, your life will be more vibrant.
I hope you have a fabulous week, My Friends. Take care, and Live The Vibrant Life!
