Society has made us think that we are not enough: you do not have a house, you do not have a husband/wife/serious relationship, a career or something else. The truth is that society wants to feed you an illusion of a perfect life so that it can force you to buy things.For example, they sell you the idea that your life cannot be complete without a house, and they will force on you a mortgage so that you can buy a house, and then you will get into debt so that you can live a life that you may not want. Maybe your idea of a happy life is to be free, not being in debt for a house because maybe you have not decide were you will settle, that for a moment you want to see places and explore the world.
The world is big and you might feel helpless in front of the life’s events, trust me, don’t panic. It takes a lot of courage to be as you are in this moment in time: broken, happy, conflicting as it may seem. Feel your emotions and make a plan. Don’t ever feel that you are behind in life, because you are on your own path. Nobody has experimented your life and what it took to get here, you are right were you are supposed to be. Keep going, you will succeed. Keep going, you are going places. You can do whatever you want. Believe in yourself.
Minimalism is a concept that you may have from time to time, but you do not fully grasp it or align to its values. Minimalism, essentially is living with less, living with intention.
From what I have seen on YouTube videos, on styling channel, capsule wardrobes was a way that they presented minimalism . Simply putting, those girls they were styling gray, beige, white and black clothes since these colors were interchangeable and they will always match with each other, something that did not appeal to me at all. But minimalism in therms of wardrobe doesn’t have to be that way, it should be selecting the colors that suits you and the colors that you love. I recommend reading David Zyla’s book “Color your style” in order to find the colors that best suit or watch videos on YouTube related to personal color analysis, this way you will wear flattering clothes and you will not buy ruthlessly fast fashion or clothes that will only be in the land field.
Living your life doesn’t mean getting attached to things as Joshua Becker says in his book “ Living with less”m, it means living and spending more time with people in your life. He suggests having less things, as this way you are not own by the things you won, meaning that a bigger house requires bigger maintenance expenses that will lead you working overtime and feeling tired, you will not be able to enjoy things in life, you will only be controlled by them. Be careful not to buy things to appear wealthy in the eyes of other since others do not care. At the end, what matters in my opinion is how you feel, you want to be happy and free or you feel that you need that you must go in debt to buy a house just because others are settling down. For others, having a home even tough through debt may bring comfort, while for other may bring anxiety thinking about debt repayment. I have said it before, buy a house only when you are ready if this is is you in the last example, that way you will feel more at ease ( maybe after you find yourself in a promising field that it will provide you mental security that you are in the right path, bear in mind that this is only one way of thinking and you should always do what makes sense for you and your family).
Another internet blogger in the field of minimalism, Francine Jay suggests buying only what is necessary and also when buying keep the rule, one in, one out from your house- donate, sell or throw anything that is of no use or you really like it. She says that our things can be split into 3 categories: useful, beautiful and emotional. Think also about buying locally since it is more gentle to the environment and helps local economy.
One quote that I really liked is: “ success and excess are not the same thing “ (Joshua Becker). Becker says that being healthy for you in order to do the things you want , it matters is morethan working out for an exterior appearance in order to please others.
This year, I want to become more aware of the clutter I have in my life, I will try to donate everything that is not in line with the space. I suggest that you tune in with your emotions. Are you buying to fill in an emotional void or do you really need that? Buy only what is useful for you and meaningful, that way you will live a more balanced life and be gentle to the environment.
We all want happiness in our life, but, most of the time, we don’t appreciate the things we already have before wishing we had something else.
The first step is to be grateful for what you have even if you have little and also, be grateful for where you are right now. Your past self could not be believe what you went through and where are you know. Be calm and grateful. Even if you are feeling lost right now, it is a step in discovering who you are really are. As Jeff Gains, says in his book, Find who you really are, you don’t need to find your vocation, you need to try new things and be on the move. Eventually, something will take over, will call you just like when you fall in love. As Jay Shetty say Explore & Experiment in order to find out who you really are.
Be open to learn new things and be aware of the opportunities you came along. Pivot around the obstacles. There is a word I really like , it is called neuroplasticity – the ability of your organism to replace/reprogram your existing patterns /genes into new ones. This means that even though you may suck at something , for example at socializing with people, you may have anxiety, you can suppress that by putting yourself into new situations and go talk to people in social engagements.
In the book The power of Failure, dr. Tim Cantopher, say that a person is more happier if he has an objective. Those objectives should be clear and to be clear about what you want in life. He says that any disease related to stress should be seen as a indicator of a need to change. Also, he emphasizes that you need to pay attention to your relationships. In order to feel good, you need to also receive, not to be always that constantly gives.
Read, listen to everything around yourself, and also pay attention to your inner world while dealing with the world. You can do everything you want. Trust yourself. Trust yourself in any situation.
Since you’ve found this article, maybe you need something to change in your life. Believe me, I was in your shoes and I still am. Let’s say that this blog is my way of doing so.
Acknowledge where you are at this point in your life. Is everything alright? Did you want to achieve something by a certain age and you didn’t. That’s okay, there’s no time limit to your dreams. Check in first your mental state: are you angry all the time-why this may happen? Are you happy? Are you okay?…Check and list your emotions that you are going through at this stage.
After you have acknowledged your emotions, try to find a reason why you are feeling this way-did you suffered from a heartbreak, or maybe you’ve lost your job? In many case, the reasons may be superficial. As psychologists say, suffering may come from your childhood; you were conditioned to behave or act in a certain way. I recommend you start reading the book “How to do the work” by Nicole LePera to help you in that area. Dig deep down into your condition and you may find yourself starting to change. It will be messy, you will be angry towards those who have raised you, but nobody’s at fault here. You have to break your old pattern and evolve into a new human being. The next step- your reinvention. After all, humans constantly evolve and change during their lives, you were not the same person you were 10 years ago, but that’s okay. Nobody expects that.
Dare to dream. What do you want to do with your life? Do you want to switch careers, do you want to find the love of our life? Start breaking your major goals into small ones: changing careers – such as figuring out what you are good at, taking some classes; finding love-meet new people, don’t judge people so easily. Find your “ikigai” ( your meaning in life). I recommend you read the book “The Ikigai Journey: A Practical Guide to Finding Happiness and Purpose the Japanese Way” by Hector Garcia.
I know that this blog post, probably didn’t help you a lot, it may be only a superficial recommendation from my part, but I hope that you will be able to transform your life for better.
Every now and then, you look around and you see books. Maybe you’ve read them in school, maybe you’ve had an impulsive shopping spree and you’ve decided to buy one. But, is it worth reading them?
The answer is YES. Absolutely, yes, they are worth reading them. In school, I know you didn’t like reading them, mostly because the books that were mandatory , they were not your style or perhaps you didn’t like the book. Something, for sure may be more important than reading a book, but that book you may avoid it, it may bring you a much needed perspective. While reading a book, you have the chance to view the world through other person’s perspective and see things you normally wouldn’t see or became aware of them.
Books give you perspective. Reading books should bring you joy, also it will help you escape the reality and calm you down. Therefore, find books in fields that interest you and start reading. You will be amazed on how many books you can read when the subject may interest you.
I hope that you find books you enjoy and if you do not like the subject or how the phrases are flowing, you are free to stop reading that book. Go ahead and read another book that you enjoy and the old one if you bought it, and don’t need it, donate it to your local library. As with anything in life, life exists to be enjoyed.
Notes from Ladybug 