Beginning of a Journey

My journey as a minimalist started a year ago. For quite a while I had been a fan of the Tiny House movement and sometime last summer I ended up watching Youtube videos about minimalism and quickly found out about The Minimalists.

Until that point, I had lived with a lot of stuff. Back home, we had a nice house full of stuff. The garage was unusable because of the amount of stuff. All the closets were filled with boxes and piles of stuff. It was the life I knew. So when I grew up and moved to my first own apartment, I brought with me a lot of stuff. And for 10 years, my small studios were filled with things I never used. At some point, I moved three or four times without even fully unboxing my moving boxes. It still took a long time — and the help of amazing Youtubers — to realize that I could get rid of that stuff.

The Beginning

I figured it wouldn't be too hard, so I decided to start from my clothes. I didn't feel particularly interested in clothing: I just wore whatever I happened to have at hand. That's when I faced the first obstacle. I was emotionally attached to pieces of cloth. Little by little, I was able to go through my closet. I ended up donating over 70% of my clothes to charity. It took another couple of rounds later in the year to get down to what I now have but it was a good start.

Then I wanted to get rid of the TV but as a big movie fan and a gamer, it felt bit too radical to just sell my TV. So I decided to put it into a box for three months with a promise that if, after those three months, it would still be untouched in the box, I could sell it. I never looked back. I ended up donating it to a local non-profit and haven't missed a TV ever since. I still watch Netflix and other streaming services but I do it with my laptop.

Suddenly things started to happen. After not having a TV, I didn't need a tv stand, a sofa nor a coffee table. For the first time, I had some space in my apartment.

The Continuation

During my first year, I went from needing 2.5 vans for moving to living an adventurous life with a backpack and apartment hopping every month to live in another neighborhood. I'll share later what I carry with me and how I have organized my life but I basically live with a hiking backpack and a smaller daily backpack that I use when I'm not traveling.

This blog is a collection of my thoughts about minimalism, simplifying and living a more stress-free life. I hope to inspire and challenge you to think about your approach to life.

If you're interested in learning more about a minimalist lifestyle and my journey, you should come back on Fridays for new posts!