I have been living a minimalist lifestyle for over seven years now.
In this blog post, I would like to share the benefits of minimalist living that I have experienced personally.
I hope this can be helpful for those who are interested in learning about the advantages of minimalist living.
The Essence of Benefits
I will start by writing the conclusion.
The essential benefit of minimalist living is the ability to invest your money and time in things that are important to you.
From my own experience, I believe this is the greatest advantage of minimalist living.
And this benefit has the power to significantly transform our lives.
Investing Time & Money in Vital Matters Alters Lives
It is because we often unconsciously consume our lives for someone else’s sake, someone who has no relevance to our own lives.
For example, buying things we don’t actually need or spending time watching YouTube videos to pass the time.
These things are created by someone else to fulfill their own ideals.
By spending our money and time on these things, we are dedicating our lives to someone else’s ideals.
Of course, it is not inherently bad to spend money and time.
If it is something that you truly desire from the bottom of your heart, then you should buy it.
If it is content that you genuinely want to watch, then you should watch it.
However, if these things are not important to you personally, then you are allowing someone else to take away your life.
How can we prevent this extravagance?
The solution lies in practicing minimalism.
This is because minimalism teaches us what is truly important to us.
How Minimalist Living Helps Us Realize What Is Important
There may be some people who do not know what is important to them.
That’s okay.
When you live a minimalist lifestyle, it helps you discover what is truly important to you.
Specifically, it provides an opportunity to reflect on the things you own and consider their significance, which leads you to understand what is important to you.
The essence of minimalist living is to live with the bare minimum of possessions.
To achieve this, you need to let go of many things in the initial stages of minimalist living.
This process is an effective action to recognize what you consider important.
For example, when you discard something that has been sitting in your closet for a long time, you may feel various emotions.
Why did I buy it?
Why am I considering letting go of it now?
These questions make you aware of the thoughts you were unconsciously having.
For example,
If you bought them because someone you admired wore them, it gives you an opportunity to consider why you admired that person.
Maybe you admired their appearance.
Maybe you admired what that person has accomplished,
Reflecting on what aspects you admired about them can help you recognize what is important to you.
This is just one example, but letting go of possessions is an act of looking back at your past self, which provides a good opportunity to contemplate such things.
By repeating this kind of thinking, you can articulate what is important to you.
Specific Benefits of Minimalist Living
Now I will share some personal experiences.
Regarding the use of money
Impulse buying decreases.
Since I know what I should spend money on, I don’t waste money unnecessarily.
As a result, I naturally accumulate money, allowing me to spend it on important things.
For example, I took my mother on a trip to Los Angeles.
My mother loves movies, and she had always wanted to visit Hollywood.
I can’t forget the smile on my mother’s face during the trip.
It became a priceless memory.
Also, I am currently studying marketing and English in Australia because it is my dream.
Making the risky decision to quit my job and study abroad wouldn’t have been possible without sufficient funds.
Regarding the use of time
I am now able to consistently devote my time to what is important to me.
As a result, I feel a sense of fulfillment in my life.
In my case, during my twenties, I focused on developing my sales skills, which were essential for a successful life.
I wanted to acquire the ability to earn money at a young age to navigate through the long journey of life.
Therefore, I had many opportunities to think about time management techniques to achieve results in my job during my twenties.
As a result, I achieved the highest sales performance in the company’s history.
However, in my late twenties, I felt the desire to pursue two new goals:
- I wanted to work in marketing. Actually, I studied marketing in university and had always wanted to make it my profession.
- I wanted to become fluent in English. I wanted to be able to communicate with people from all over the world by speaking English.
So, I considered studying marketing at a school abroad.
For me, living in Japan, it was a good choice to study marketing and English overseas.
However, in order to realize this option, I needed to improve my English proficiency.
Since I couldn’t speak English at all, I needed to meet the English proficiency requirements for admission.
That’s when I started to reduce the time I spent on work and focused on studying English.
My sales performance rapidly declined, and people around me expressed concerns, but I wasn’t bothered by it.
Because I was able to concentrate on what I wanted to do.
Perhaps without a minimalist mindset, I would have been afraid to let go of the recognition I had gained so far.
Being able to devote time to what is important to me, according to the change in my mindset, is a benefit of minimalist living.
Conclusion
These were the benefits of minimalist living that I believe in.
Being a minimalist allows you to concentrate on what is important to you, so it can be a highly advantageous lifestyle for some individuals.
I hope this blog post can serve as a reference for something meaningful in your life.
Thank you for reading until the end.
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