I believe learning is one of humans survival skills- we pick up life-changing lessons from time to time to improve our lives, and due to the positive impacts of these lessons, they become part of us forever.
I wasn't born into a minimalist family, but life set me on the path. At the beginning, I had zero knowledge about minimalism, but a time came when I knew learning more about this lifestyle was necessary. Luckily for me, I met someone who took time to share her practices with me. She enlightened me about so many things that changed my life from that day.
There are so many lessons about minimalism that I have learned over the years, and they are all valuable to me. One stands out, though, and it practically embodies many of my minimalist practices.
Prioritizing my well-being is the most valuable lesson minimalism has taught me, and it's funny how people still misunderstand this simple idea. People still believe that putting yourself first always can expose you to becoming selfish, but that's not the case for me because there is no part of minimalism that teaches selfishness or greed.
Everything this lifestyle taught me has to do with prioritizing my needs, self-care, personal values, goals, and others. This doesn't mean that I don't put others in consideration; I do, but not at the expense of my well-being.
My lifestyle before learning about minimalism was completely different from what it is today. Actually, I thought I was a priority to myself, but that wasn't true.
Several times, I have chosen to please people at the expense of my well-being. I inconvenience myself and end up struggling with the repercussions in the end.
I remember some years ago when I suddenly told myself that I needed more friends in my life and started jumping at people I met during that period. My contact list doubled, I had more chats to attend to, events piled up, and everything started choking me up. I got drained physically, mentally, emotionally, and even financially- it got to a point when I started trimming down that same friend list just to keep my sanity.
My forgive but don't forget principle was another big issue then. I didn't apply this principle to everyone that offended me, though there are people who I just couldn't let go of the things they did.
I always held on to the hurt thinking I was drawing strength from the pain. Life was like that for me until minimalism made me realize that I wasn't doing myself any good. I was only inflicting more pain on myself, all at the detriment of my well-being. The funny part was that those people I held grudges against weren't affected in any way. I was the one suffering, but when I learned to prioritize my well-being, I let go of those grudges.
Not just that, I channeled more energy into everything that had to do with my well-being, and there have been no regrets. To cut the story short, prioritizing myself changed my life positively. My choice of life didn't sit well with many people, but does it matter when what matters to me is my well-being as long as I don't inconvenience or harm anyone?
As it stands, I am still learning when it comes to the minimalist lifestyle, and it's awesome being part of this great community where I can learn more from other members practices.
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
