Living Minimally

Do you ever find yourself bogged down by stress and the hassles of life? What if reducing a few aspects in your life could lead to less stress and anxiety? Learning to stop all the excess noise and societal pressures and focusing on narrowing your thoughts will allow for your mind and body to enjoy what's in the present. Reduce your stress and anxiety levels can be achieved by living with less tasks at hand.

According to the book Everything That Remains by The Minimalist; minimalism has helped people:

Eliminate our discontent

Reclaim our time

Live in the moment

Pursue our passions

Discover our missions

Experience real freedom

Create more, consume less

Focus on our health

Grow as individuals

Contribute beyond ourselves

Rid ourselves of excess stuff

Discover purpose in our lives

Minimalism is a tool that can assist you in finding freedom; freedom from fear, worry, overwhelm, guilt, depression, the trappings of the consumer culture we’ve built our lives around, and ultimately finding real freedom.

A minimalist lifestyle is not for everyone. But in this hectic world, many of us feel the need to have less, to spend less, to do less, to need less. Where does one start on the path to living more simply? We've got the beginner's guide for getting on track to living a more simple, minimal lifestyle at home (and in life). No one single post will magically make you into a minimalist instantly, but these ideas are a good place to start you on your journey.

You read about those folks who make huge, dramatic leaps into extreme minimal lifestyles, giving away everything they own, moving to the woods or an empty room with just their notepad. You can certainly get on the path to minimalism with a similarly grand gesture, or you can work on seeking simplicity more gradually. Start at the top of this list, or find the one that resonates most with you and begin there:

Give yourself a clear, personal goal (and a timeline)

Give yourself a clear goal, with broken-down steps to attain, and remember to write down the things you need to complete those steps. Give yourself a time frame to achieve each step and not just the final goal. Consider making alerts on your calendar so you are held accountable.

Don't just write down what the goal is, write down why you want to live more minimally (less stress, more money, less stuff to haul on your next move, it can be anything that means something to you).

Decide how your home can help you live a more minimalist lifestyle

Your request for a more minimal life may lead you to changing up your home. Do you really need the garage full of clutter or the spare room full of toys, games, or whatever that hasn’t been touched in years? Maybe look to downsize. Life can be so much simpler if we live more simply.

Declutter

This seems pretty obvious, but it can be the most painful step for folks who have a real attachment to many of their items. Start slow and intentionally. Throw out or donate everything you obviously don't need first. Then take and hide everything you think you could do without for a few months, to give yourself distance to be able to give them away. Then use that motivation to gather the courage to take decluttering as extreme as works for your dream, minimal lifestyle. Keep reminding yourself that stripping away as much stuff from your life will make it easier to achieve a more simple life and allow you to have more freedom. You don't have to only live with a bed and a laptop; again, you get to decide what living more minimally means to you.

Train yourself to live with less

If you've been used to creature comforts for a long time, you might not be ready to take a minimal plunge all at once. Consider having comfort-free weekends or months, slowly eliminating comforts and luxuries (even as simple as pricey haircuts or weekly movie dates) and seeing what feels okay to lose, and what things are too valuable to your happiness to give up.

Valuing the little things in life will allow bigger things to feel more extravagant. Spending less will also put a little more in your account for savings or debts.

Ask yourself, "Do I really need this?" all the time

Before you swipe your credit card, ask yourself "Do I really need this?" And ask yourself all the time. At first you may easily justify purchases out of habit, but as the question sinks in, you might find yourself realizing you don't need many of the items you impulsively buy.

Stop Multitasking

Pick the task that's more time sensitive or on your mind the most and run with it and it only. A summary of research examining multitasking on the American Psychological Association's web site describes how so-called multitasking is neither effective nor efficient.

These findings have demonstrated that when you shift focus from one task to another, that transition is neither fast nor smooth. Instead, there is a lag time during which your brain must yank itself from the initial task and then glom onto the new task.

Try minimalism out, see if your life can change for the better. “Be as simple as you can be; You will be astonished to see how uncomplicated and happy your life can become”- Paramahansa YogonandaSimple, uncomplicated, and happy those words all sound to good to be true! In the end find what works for you, but never hurts to give something new a try.

Tesa is new to blogging, but hopes to make a big impact with her vast knowledge of athletics and experience. Tesa recently earned her bachelor's degree at the Pennsylvania State University. While majoring in Athletic Training and minoring in psychology, she worked with various division one collegiate sports teams. Tesa is continuing her education by pursuing her Master's of Science in Kinesiology with a concentration in sports pedagogy at The Louisiana State University. Tesa is a board certified Athletic Trainer and a Performance Enhancement Specialist. Outside of the training room, Tesa enjoys going on runs and working out for leisure.

Main Photo Credit: Chinnapong/shutterstock.com; Second Photo Credit: A. and I. Kruk/shutterstock.com; Third Photo Credit: Maksim Vostrikov/shutterstock.com; Fourth Photo Credit: chainarong06/shutterstock.com