A minimalist lifestyle _ ( Ladies contest #34 : The biggest change you want in your life?)

Hello lovely My friends ❤️

How are you today. I hope you are doing really well.

This is my entry for Ladies of Hive Community Contest #34 with topic below:

2️⃣ What is the biggest change you want in your life?
Discuss the steps you will take to make it succeed.

Perhaps we all always want to change a few things in our lives to have a better life.
For me too, what I want to change the most is to pursue a "minimalist lifestyle". This seems simple, but it is extremely difficult, especially in the modern life full of inventions developed to serve our lives.
Each of us tries constantly to save a lot of money, and then use that hard-earned money to buy things for our lives.

A few years ago, I realized I was buying too many unnecessary things for my life. There were even times to buy branded shoes, various perfumes of famous brands, and never worn the party of dresses..Then, Because of spending too much money for shopping, I had to eat instant noodles for almost a month.( IoI) That used to be stupid in my life before.

But there was a time when I felt like my life was a mess and apart from my parents, there was no other reason to live ( Some reasons related to love and work ). But one day, My best friend gave me a book by a Japanese author titled: JAPANESE MINIMAL LIFE. Minimalist lifestyle is a way of life that removes Stuffs in your life to a minimum. And with a life of less stuff, we can focus more on our happiness. I was really captivated by this book. She encouraged me, to slowly rearrange my life and like reset the mess in my life, hope I can clear everything. I was looking back at the messy room with so many unnecessary things, it made me start to organize all one by one. Today, I would like to share some steps below, I've tried to change my messy lifestyle into my simple life.

BRING OUT EVERYTHING THAT IS UNNECESSARY
ONLY KEEP SOMETHING YOU REALLY NEED !

Starting with my wardrobe. I have filtered out the clothes that have never been worn or are no longer worn, set aside. Then I gave them away to charity, so those who can't afford to buy clothes can use it. I am only keeping the necessary clothes, which are not out of fashion and I'm regularly wearing every day. (just simple t-shirts and jeans, shorts.)

Next is to clean out the shoe cabinet, bookcase and working desk. When I started cleaning them up, I just started to realize, my stuff is full of TRASH. Memorabilia, photo albums, music CD, and a few things I bought while traveling I don't even remember its existence. I bought them and stashed them in a nook in a corner of my room and never paid attention to them.

After cleaning up and bravely throwing away the unnecessary things, I felt a sense of relief inside. Life is also very much reset because of that.

SAY NO TO SHOPPING THINGS YOU DON'T NEED

Like many women, I had a hobby of shopping. Once I went shopping, I bought a lot of things. I remember, there were times when I traveled before in Japan and Taiwan, instead of going to see the beautiful scenery, experience the culture and food there, I spent most of my time shopping for clothes, mementos, shoes... that I think I will use it someday. I was spending my precious time buying unnecessary things, then working hard to carry them back from Japan and Taiwan, but in the end they were still in my suitcase IoI. And I forgot how to enjoy my trip so meaningfully.

It's one of the things that I regret most in my life. After I'm pursuing a minimalist lifestyle, I hadn't to worry about buying souvenirs while traveling no longer . Instead, I spend more time enjoying nature, foods as well as learning more about the local culture and people where I am traveling. Especially, I don't need to spend much of my precious time for cleaning, organizing, and throwing unnecessary things from my closet.

Enjoy nature, instead of going shopping

STOP COMPARING WITH OTHER PEOPLE, CONFIDENTIAL INVESTMENT IN YOURSELF

I realized that the reason why I want to buy a lot of things comes from comparing my life with others. While other people have beautiful dresses and designer handbags posted on social media every day, I wanted to do the same. I wanted to show people that I am having a better life than them. That's why years ago, my goal in life was to earn a lot of money to buy a car, buy a house,many expensive luxury things that I wanted. Like my previous post in "Love the imperfect things", I used to constantly compare myself to the people around me, but forgot the true happiness that I desire.

Instead of spending so much money on shopping, I use it to travel more places, get outdoors, and have wonderful experiences in my only life.
I also spend a part of my time and money investing in my hobbies, necessary skills for my life. Some of my friends on social media commented to me : " why I was spending money on traveling and learning without shopping to make yourself more beautiful??" .I don't think spending money on experiences and investing in self-improvement is useless, and even didn't find it expensive at all.

My urgly painting. But I love it ❤️

Each of us is a separate individual, has our own choices and happiness. Therefore, we should not compare ourselves to others. Instead Let's focus on what we want. For me, I'm happy with the simple things, love the imperfections of myself and wish to have a minimalist life.

Each of us is a separate individual, has our own choices and happiness. Therefore, we should not compare ourselves to others.

Above, There is the thing I most wanted to change in my life. Currently, I have been and still continue to get the minimalist lifestyle. Minimalism that I want to say here, not necessarily like the author says in the book. My goal is not to become a minimalist, I just want to have a neat and simple lifestyle with things outside and inside of my soul, and that For me it makes me happy.

Thank you very much for reading my blog. Dont forget to share with me " " What is the biggest change you want in your life? Discuss the steps you will take to make it succeed" .

Much Love ❤️