To me life was all about accumulating, collecting more things, getting the best corporate job to confirm that I was happy and successful in my life. The advertisements that I watched, the happier friend on social media I noticed, the conditioning that society gave constantly honked my ears to believe that having more gives you freedom and joy. Earning more and spending the weekends buying plastic stuff and preservative food became the monthly goals. The monthly survival goals became the purpose and life became all about taking care of this accumulated stuff.
In spite of doing well in my life, I was unsatisfied and miserable. There was a constant worry about the future, more money, buying things, owing more, going to exotic places, controlling people, and making things and situations look perfect. The thoughts were extremely stressful and I was hit by anxiety.
I looked for advice and solutions in my network for months and I failed to get an answer, so I googled and found a word called โMinimalismโ, and for the first time in my life I was informed that you donโt need to own everything in this world and look perfect. You can focus less on material possession and simplify your life to focus on what makes you truly happy and fulfilled.
I took a chance of letting go of things by decluttering and downsizing the needs (honestly, it was difficult to let go). While I was decluttering, I realized that none of the stuff that I owned was actually bringing happiness but they were distracting me from the things that did bring me happiness, meaning, joyfulness and purpose. They were distracting me to be calm, discover the real me, find my real purpose in life. I could link materialism to distraction and its correlation to stress and anxiety and could get breakthrough in my mental health.
I truly believe that minimalism is not a trend, movement, or an elite peopleโs conversation; it is an ancient wisdom that got lost in the distraction of materialism.
