5 Promises of Embracing a Minimalist Life
Last week, a kickoff call with my HarperCollins’ marketing team left me reflecting on the promises of a minimalist life.
I presented my book (coming early next year—details to come) as they listened and asked thoughtful questions.
What might the reader be bringing to this book? What will the reader be taking away?
As we brainstormed, the answers to the first question reflected the challenges of a life entrenched in excess stuff (chronic overwhelm, stress, lack of peace, a nagging heaviness, existential unease).
Then we answered the second question.
This second list, I realized, outlined the promises of embracing a minimalist life—all were life-giving and none of them were tangible.
I’ll expound on several of them below (freedom, peace, realignment with your values, presence, and authenticity).
If you’re looking for more of these “things” in your life, you can find them all in minimalism.
Here’s why…
Here are 5 promises of embracing a minimalist life:
1. Freedom
A minimalist life promises a renewed sense of freedom. When you’re not enslaved by your stuff, you feel freer mentally, physically, financially, and emotionally.
Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus of The Minimalists used the word “freedom” when defining minimalism.
“If we had to sum it up in a single sentence,” they wrote, “We would say, minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.”
They continued to describe minimalism as a tool that can facilitate finding freedom in multiple areas of your life.
“[Minimalism leads to] freedom from fear,” they said. “Freedom from worry, from overwhelm, from guilt, from depression, and from the trappings of the consumer culture we’ve built our lives around. Real freedom.”
If life feels heavy or stagnant instead of light and free, try living with less stuff.
2. Peace
A minimalist life promises a life of increased peace. Our possessions are not neutral. Every item we own asks something of us—clean me, store me, maintain me, keep me tidy.
Each thing you see in your home sends a steady signal to your brain. When you’re constantly surrounded by clutter, you have more incoming signals that ping your nervous system incessantly. This can trigger fight or flight mode, and causes stress.
Decluttering your home is a huge piece of healing your nervous system, lowering your stress levels, and welcoming feelings of peace into your life.
If life feels chaotic and stressful, give living with less a try.
3. Realignment with your values
A minimalist life promises a life aligned with your values. The average American home has over 300,000 things in it and 80% of them are rarely used.
Once you begin decluttering your home, you realize that this plethora of excess possessions isn’t what matters most in life. With less stuff, you have more space to identify what you truly value and more time to pursue those things.
Maybe that includes more family adventures, more quiet mornings in prayer, more time dedicated to a hobby or humanitarian project.
You can become richer in the things that actually matter when you choose to live with less stuff.
4. Being present to the moment
A minimalist life promises an increased ability to be present to the moment. With less stuff vying for our attention and devotion, we increase our capacity to show up fully present to the people we love.
A cluttered home is a distracting home. Clutter causes visual noise that keeps our minds muddied with to-dos. When we’re constantly doing instead of being, it’s hard to show up present.
Consider how you feel in a room with bills scattered across a counter or toy piles littering the floor. Now imagine yourself in that same room without clutter.
Which room would you be more present in?
If you’re seeking deeper connections with those you love and more awareness of the details in your life, then consider a life with fewer possessions.
5. Authenticity
A minimalist life promises a more authentic life. Society today sends messages that, if we listen too closely, can blur our sense of self.
Take social media for example. When we habitually scroll past fashion trends, beige mom pages, and flashy product upgrades, we naturally begin to wonder, “Am I supposed to be more like that?” We stop listening to our inner guide that knows what’s best for us and listen to outward messages to be different. Soon, we feel a sense of unease, not being enough, and may even feel “lost.”
Minimalism is an invitation to shed everything that’s not supporting you—including unhealthy influences. As you begin ridding your life of excess possessions, you make space to notice the inner pulls that don’t align with your true self.
If you feel called to unveil—and then live—a more authentic life, embrace a life with less stuff.
One caveat
A minimalist life promises many “things” that will enrich your life. But there is one caveat to these promises.
Once you jettison your excess stuff and create space in your life, it’s up to you to fill it with what matters.
Decluttering leads to a lighter life. But it can cause a dopamine rush similar to buying things—both can be short-lived.
In my experience, lasting freedom, peace, alignment with your values, presence, and authenticity are found in deepening your relationship with God. And when you live with less stuff, you can curate a life with more time and space for that.
In conclusion
If you’re feeling called to live a minimalist life and welcome more of the “things” above into your life, I encourage you to go for it.
Choose one of the five points above and use it as motivation to declutter. If you choose peace, for example, write out specifically what a more peaceful life would look like for you. Then make it happen. Declutter and fill your newfound space with what matters until you consistently feel more peace.
We get to choose the “things” we fill our life with.
Let’s opt for the promises of a minimalist life and embrace an untethered, lighter life with less stuff.
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Julia Ubbenga is a freelance journalist. Her teachings on minimalism, simplicity, and intentional living have reached over 1M people worldwide through her blog. Julia also practices what she preaches in her Kansas City home. She resides with her husband and their four extremely lively young children. You can also find her on Facebook.
Do you want to get serious about decluttering your life? My signature course will show you how to declutter your inner and outer environment for good. Now is the time to choose change. Now is the time to live lighter. Learn more here.