Friday 24 May 2013

The creation of MY definition.



Hi all, thanks for stopping by once again to view my blog.  Today I would like to chat about the steps I followed to finally get down on paper MY definition of minimalism.  I would like to recommend that anyone wanting to experience a new way of life through minimalistic practises also embark on a similar process.  Doing so will allow you to have a clear understanding of :
  1. Who you are doing this for.
  2. Why are you doing this.
  3. Exactly what it is that you are doing.
  4. What goals you want to achieve.
  5. How you go about achieving your goals.



My Goal !!! A pictures paints a thousand words.
Before embarking on my life changing journey I had an overwhelming feeling of "is this it?".  My life was normal for all intents and purposes, but it felt empty.  Every day was a battle..... All I seemed to do was work and pay bills, with little time left for anything of any real substance.  My relationship with my beautiful wife was in the proverbial "crapper" (when compared to how it is now) and I didn't spend enough time with my Daughter.  There was no one specific thing that went wrong, it was a combination of smaller things all of which were issues associated with not spending quality time with the people I love.  I had let worldly pursuits blind me and I no longer had a direction.  My self esteem was low and every day became a grind, at times I felt suicidal.  Right at this low point I asked myself the following questions "Am I happy to continue the way things are", "Do I want to be in this relationship", and "what changes can I make to fix things".  My answers were No, Yes, and buggered if I know......
 
Right, time to act..... I knew I loved my wife and that she loved me, I knew we both loved our daughter, I knew I didn't want to continue this way but I didn't know where to start or what to do to fix things.  So I stopped right there and had another little think, I asked myself what was the single most important thing in my life.  I could not answer with just one thing, but I did answer,  "my family, my relationship and my personal spirituality".  I didn't want to cut out one thing so I could buy more of something else (like the Porsche above), I didn't want the perfect new age minimalist home (that costs a million dollars to build - again pictured above).  What I wanted was a perfect life with my wife and my daughter and for me to explore my inner "soul" more so as to become a better person to and for those in my life. 
 
From there I decided to investigate ways to focus more of my energy on these three crucial areas of my life, but how can I achieve this when all I do is work and most of my money goes on bills and/or selfish pursuits.  After much discussion with friends, reading of books, searching the Internet etc I happened upon the concept of Minimalism.  Immediately I could see that Minimalism not only offered me a way to change my life, it also offered me a way to change myself. 

"If you don't define a thing then that thing may define you" 

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