How I Found Happiness with Less.

The year is 2017. I have just graduated from University after 4 gruelling years studying Chemistry. I sit on the horrible carpet of my student house, memory conjuring stains cover the floor in a sort of tapestry of the last 12 months. The thought of moving out looms large as I realise I must somehow pack all of these belongings into the back of my parents Volvo. What do I throw away? What do I take home and treasure forever? What has such deep routed memories associated with it that I now have to assign it the dreaded "sentimental" value? But hold on, lets take a step back.

A little about me: I hate having stuff. Everything I look at I ask myself why I even have it in the first place. Every book, trinket, box and pencil is scrutinised. I pick something and think "would I notice if this disappeared?" Just so you know I wasn't always like this. Up until the age of 18 I used to buy and collect all sorts of things. At this time I was the only one of my friends who had a job. I was earning money! So what did I do with that money? Of course like the reckless teen I was I spent every penny of every paycheque. I bought fancy TV's, games consoles anything new and techy essentially. I loved the attention and praise it seemed to offer within my friendship group. But then university came around and everything changed....

I arrived at my apartment on day one and immediately began building my "set up". 3D tv... check!, PS3... check!, surround sound speakers... check!, coffee machine... you betcha! I was ready for everyone to be envious and spend all their time in my room. But to my surprise, no one cared. Turns out at university you are cooler if you live like a nomad and hang patterned blankets all over your walls. My PS3 went unused, my speakers unheard and my TV just gathered dust. I began to loath the lack of space I had because of these unnecessary purchases. So, second year came and I started to sell off my possessions. The great thing was, technology tends to hold its value so I wasn't really losing anything on these purchases I made a couple of years prior. Third year was when the biggest shift happened. I was about to travel to the USA to study for the year. The prospect of packing everything I needed into one 23kg suitcase was daunting. Once you get beyond the clothes necessary for a year enduring the PA weather you aren't left with much. Add a laptop, camera and all the necessary accessories and you are pretty much there. This year taught me so much, most of all how to live efficiently and be happy with less. Not only did I live comfortably in a student dorm but I also travelled the USA in a tent for 3 months.

This was the happiest time of my life. And no it wasn't just because I was road tripping across this stunning country, it was because I had streamlined life itself. My mind was clear, I wasn't distracted by things, my attention remained solely on the world around me not the inanimate object before me. This ethos immediately routed itself deep within me and by the time my final year came around I was living with what I thought was the bare minimum.
So back to 2017 and that moment of realisation on my bedroom floor. This anxiety and dread I was feeling wasn't the thought of leaving university for good. It was that I had somehow abandoned everything I had learnt during the previous years. I look around the room and see stuff everywhere... I had been so involved in my work and meeting deadlines that I failed to recognise the warning signs. Birthday cards stuffed in drawers, trinkets littering the window sill, more frying pans than a Michelin star chef. It was time.

Time for Cleanse 2.0.

Moving back in with my parents would make move number 5 in 4 years. Anyone who has moved house before will appreciate how stressful this time can be. Having to pack all of your worldly possessions into boxes only to unpack them in 2 hours time can be demoralising. But what if I didn't have to do that? What if instead of packing and unpacking I used this opportunity to begin the second great cleanse of my life.
So here's what I did. I found the unopened packet of post-it notes and began sticking them on things. red = throw away, green = keep. If something went unused for the next 7 days it received the red post-it of death. My thinking was if I didn't need something during an average week I didn't need it at all. 7 days past and my room looked like it had contracted small pox. Red sticky labels everywhere, I immediately felt more at ease. Soon, my mind like my room would be clear again and this made me happy.

So with one day to go before my parents arrived I began throwing things away, clothes, ornaments, gifts I never asked for. And, when moving day finally arrived I was no longer filling the car to the point where I couldn't fit anything else. My life had been condensed down to a few boxes of essentials.
Today I am living between the USA and the UK. Being able to fit my entire life into a suitcase has been so important. Each time I travel I realise just how little I need to live comfortably day to day. 23kgs is all I need. This minimalist approach is still a work in progress and I hope to achieve my goal of less than 50 items by July 2019. Whatever minimalism looks like to you is your personal goal. If it means getting ride of the backlog of magazines you never manage to read that is your goal, if you have more shoes than any sane human needs this is a great place to start!
I realise this isn't for everyone and what I have committed to has been a process over 5 years. My advice is to take things slow. Start small. Get rid of the things you no longer use, the things that serve no purpose, the things that are duplicates! Why do we have two of every kitchen utensil!? When did you last need two bottle openers?!

I have found everyday life to be easier, less stressful and more efficient. Less stuff means I know exactly where everything is. How much time have you wasted looking for things in your cluttered drawers and cupboards during your life? The fact this approach has allowed me to gain back time is incredibly valuable to me. Time is the most valuable commodity in the universe. I spend no time choosing an outfit for work because I only have 5 work appropriate outfits. I spend no time searching for Tupperware, I only have 1. You get the picture.
I am the happiest I have ever been and I know it is all down to this new approach on life. So take a stand against the pain and emptiness of modern consumerism and reclaim your happiness. Cleanse your life. Choose minimalism. Choose happiness.