Minimalism and and happiness

I want to talk about the subject of Minimalism. I suffer from depression and I lately have been the most depressed that I have been. I am working so much that I have not enjoyed my life. Feeling robotic and much like a slave, I needed change.Working 6-7 days a week, I don’t get to see family or friends much. Photography has become a job and less of something I enjoy anymore. I started asking myself , “ what was the point of all of this”. I have always been a minimalist but I still have so much clutter to get rid of. To deal with depression I started to focus on things I could change in my environment so I started to clean and throw away things I didn’t use. When I say “Throw away”, I mean donate or give away. Throwing things away when someone else can use them is so silly. Cleaning my home was like cleaning my mind. I started to feel better instantly. It is so true that your environment is an extension of your mind. I live with one other person and we used to have piles of dishes that stacked up in the sink. How is that possible? We rarely have people over so those dishes are just ours. We keep using clean dishes instead of washing the dirty ones right away. Two people don’t need 20 forks and spoons! At one point the American dream was what everyone wanted… or so they thought. HAVE A BIG HOUSE AND LOTS OF STUFF to be happy. Stuff doesn’t make you happy but it controls you. You have to maintain and take care of your stuff.

When I was 17 years old, I packed a giant pink suitcase with clothes and bathroom items, tossed it in my two door Saturn and moved to Minneapolis. I lived out of that suitcase for two months until I found a place to live and went to college. In college, I ended up having to move out of my apartment because I chose some bad roommates. I lived in my two door Saturn with my suitcase full of stuff again. It was winter in Minnesota and I would sleep in the back of my car in a army sleeping bag. Most people I told this to or who are reading this might think that this sounds terrible. I had a job, I went to school, and I had friends who I could stay with. I had money to pay rent but it was hard for me to get a place to live right away. I had so much fun and was so happy at that point in my life. I would go to the gym to workout, shower, brush my teeth, and get ready and then go to work , or school, or if it was my day off I would drive to the ski hill and go snowboard all day. I didn’t sit around and be lazy, I was always doing what I loved. Eventually, my parents found out that I was doing this and made me move into their friends basement. I had all the things I needed right there in my two door Saturn.

There was a study that I read years ago that they concluded that when someone can not pay their bills that causes them depression. Making money beyond meeting your financial needs does not bring any more happiness. Another thing that can cause depression are items that remind you of points in your life. You should let go of those memories and the items that remind you of them. You should only surround yourself with things you use and that bring you joy.

Two years ago, I had a messy divorce and my partner and I had a storage locker full of our things and he took all of them and sold them. At one point, I had a house full of things, furniture, kitchen supplies, and clothes. I then moved and rented a room so I had one bedroom with a desk, and my camera. I ended up buying a futon to sleep on at night and made it a couch for an office during the day. I used to have two bedrooms, and a spacious office but I was now living in a room that was converted to a bedroom and office. It was nice to have everything I needed right there again. I went further and I got rid of the items that reminded me of my relationship. It helped me get over the hard time. I have to think back at how much money I spent on all of that stuff that I didn’t need. I could have traveled or saved it for something else.

Another thing that goes with that subject is how you spend your money. I am not rich. I used to nanny for a very rich family and they had a multi- million dollar home, four car garage, pool, boat, and a vacation home in Key West. They were a nice family of mom, dad, and two children. The father one day got upset because the mother had spent $20 at Target and that was over budget. I got to hear a lot of conversations between them as their nanny. They had a tight spending budget because all of their things cost so much money to maintain. At the end of the day we had the same amount of spending money. I didn’t have all the luxury items though. They spent so much time and money maintaining these items and they only went to their vacation home once a year or on their boat a handful of times. They were mostly gone at work while I got to enjoy their children (who were great!). It made me think about what is worth working for. I know that I would rather spend time with my children and watch them grow rather than work to own these things that I rarely enjoy. It isn't how much you make, it’s how you spend your money.

So many people are becoming more aware of destroying the idea of “The American dream” and becoming a minimalist. Check out the website http://www.theminimalists.com/ two friends talk about their journey and how to become less to be more.

Thanks for reading Steemiters! I would love to hear about your thoughts and opinions about clutter and then mind.