Sometimes figuring out how to live with less is the easy part. You can get rid of clutter in many ways including simplicity challenges like …
- minimalist fashion challenge Project 333
and, there are plenty of articles to help you declutter like …
No matter your approach, if you want any of your simplifying efforts to stick, it is so important to understand why you want to live with less.
You can spend your life in a cycle of shopping > organizing > accumulating > decluttering > holiday gift overload > spring cleaning > repeat, or you can identify your why and break the cycle.
Why do you want to live with less?
Once you know your why, write it down and use it as emotional leverage.
Connect to your why when …
- things get tough
- you are tempted with a semi-annual or holiday sale
- decluttering feels overwhelming
- you think shopping will make you feel better
Your why may change over time and it’s ok to have more than one reason. To help you brainstorm your why, here are 8 compelling reasons to live with less.
1. Health
If you discover that your clutter is stressful and that clutter might be making you sick, prioritize your mental and physical health and let go.
I knew stress made me feel sick and contributed to feeling rundown and overwhelmed, not to mention to MS relapses and symptoms, but I never thought my clutter was stressful, until I took a closer look.
- My clutter was a constant reminder of my debt and discontent. That’s stressful.
- Walking into a cluttered home at the end of a stressful work day made me even more stressed.
- Managing my clutter; organizing, cleaning, and worrying about my stuff was stressful.
- Dealing with the emotions about the clutter was very stressful.
It takes more than decluttering to combat chronic stress, but it’s a strong start. Every positive change you make and every step taken towards a healthier life will provide confidence and momentum to make the next change.
Other things that have helped me eliminate chronic stress include, creating a morning routine, moving my body regularly and meditation.
2. Clarity
Brain fog? Can’t think straight? Easily distracted? We are overwhelmed with everything we have to think about, manage and pay attention to on a daily basis. One of my favorite quotes from Thrive is from Iain Thomas, “And every day, the world will drag you by the hand, yelling, “This is important! And this is important! And this is important! You need to worry about this! And this! And this!” And each day, it’s up to you to yank your hand back, put it on your heart and say, “No. This is what’s important.”
When you begin to eliminate the stuff and the fluff, it will become easier and easier to clearly identify and protect the things that your heart knows are important.
3. Joy
Living with less will you give you room to create more joy in your life. Letting go and getting simple provides time for long walks, slow meals, meaningful conversations, or anything else that brings you real joy.
4. Rest
We’ve done a big disservice by portraying rest and relaxation as something you get if you work hard, can do if you get everything done by the end of the day or something you deserve if you are completely run down and burnt out.
Contrary to popular belief, rest is not a reward but instead an essential part of your health and healing journey (a.k.a. your life). Living with less makes it easier to reclaim your right to rest.
5. Silence
Peace and quiet shouldn’t be considered a luxury. You deserve moments of complete silence everyday. It’s a noisy, noisy world but you can better navigate and appreciate it by fueling up on silence and solitude.
6. Light
Travel light. Live light. Feel light. Be light. It’s as good as it sounds.
7. Time
If you would rather spend time with people you love and doing things you love instead of organizing and managing your stuff, living with less can help. Less stuff means less time cleaning, less time looking for things, and less time putting stuff where it belongs.
8. Purpose
If you want to find purpose and discover what matters most to you, get rid of everything that doesn’t.
Which why resonates most with you?