“Sometimes I almost wish there was a fire and I could declutter all of my stuff at once!” I see this kind of statement posted periodically in groups about minimalism. I realize the person is not serious, but having gone through a house fire myself, I also know better than to wish a fire on anyone. However, I understand the sentiment. Decluttering to create a simpler, more minimalist lifestyle isn’t easy. It takes time and effort. Once the physical stuff is under control, the challenge of managing our time, work, and relationships kicks in. Why does going minimalist take maximum effort? Why isn’t living simply easier?
It’s all relative, of course, depending on our lifestyle before we came upon the ideas of living more with less. Patience isn’t one of my strengths, so I understand the frustration of how long it takes to simplify. After stumbling upon the minimalism movement, I was eager and energized. I wanted to simplify my whole life right away. It took a year of decluttering, re-evaluating, and decluttering more before I felt that I was close to having minimalist home (spoiler alert: it’s never truly finished).
Patience may be a virtue, but impatience is a great motivator. When I get an idea, I want to act upon it as soon as possible. I begin researching, reading, and talking about my plans. Fortunately, it’s not always easy to make lifestyle changes or I probably would have made more mistakes. When I began to plan leaving a job I disliked, the process was slow and frustrating. When I wanted to find a smaller home that suited my interest in living simply, it took months. Then the renovations took more time. Eventually, my plans worked out, but the process was a challenge.
When I look back at the process, my impatience begins to subside. Despite my impatience to enact all the changes, it was stressful to do them all too quickly. Maybe there’s something to be said for having more patience as we strive to recreate a simpler life.
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Unpacking, decorating, and relaxing in your new home–new life!
I’m so glad the floors are done and I can finally unpack the rest. My books are done, which is a big deal, so now I can work on closets. Oh, and the garage – oy, what a mess! Slowly, but surely!
Looks fabulous, Shoshanah! My husband and I kind of went through similar trials in getting to where we are now. Still have lots more to do, but trying to count our blessings and not be impatient! At least we’re not having to adjust to a new job at the same time!
I didn’t really plan to do all these changes in the same month, but oh well, sometimes that’s what life hands us! The floors are done now, so I can finally finish moving in! 🙂
I’ve really enjoyed reading about your “process”, Shoshanah. It’s generally harder for mid-lifers to turn on a dime, especially if there are still kids in the house and embedded at school. I knew in the Fall of 2013 that I really needed to make some changes, I just didn’t know exactly what or how…then in the Summer of 2014 I stumbled across the entire FIRE community online…in early 2016 I left the corporate slog to form a small consulting company with an ex-colleague…and my wife and I are finally decluttering the large house now to sell in early 2018, so we can downsize out of the big city to the lazy SC coast when the 2nd of 3 kids graduates HS in May. It’ll have been almost a 5 year journey, but we’re really excited to be so close now. And so it’s good to hear the stories of others who had to work thru their own process…
Minimalizing, like life, is a work in progress!