Minimalism: Prioritizing Your Needs

Some people cringe when they hear the word minimalism, and I can understand why. Extremists would have you believing that that it means getting rid of ninety-percent of your material belongings, moving to a tiny home off-grid, adopting a vegan diet, and foraging for the majority of your food. While it can be about having less and living more simply and closer to the Earth, the foundation of minimalism is about prioritizing your needs. Many times, when we rid ourselves of what we thought we needed, that creates the space uncover that they were actually merely wants, and this leads to uncovering our true needs.

It’s hard to argue that the western world is a place that is overly focused on material things. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not bad to find value in your material things. My bookcase, my bed, and the decor my wife and I have chosen are some of the things that give me a feeling of home. To some extent, our “stuff” brings us comfort, right? Whether it is my soft PJs that make lounging feel good, my books that allow me to dive into new worlds and learn, or my fireproof bag of cherished keepsakes, there plenty of material things that I wouldn’t want to have to give up. Other things are purely functional. I don’t want to cook without a stove or even try to prepare my favorite meal without my mortar and pestle. There are even some indulgent things I really don't want to give up, like chocolate. But how many things, either material or non, do we really need? It is important for us to examine this because, when we have an excess of things we don’t need, it can end up weighing us down and keep us from taking care of our needs.

Many of use get into a mindset that more or bigger means happier. That results in accumulating so much more than necessary (and so much more than we can manage), leaving little time to attend to our true needs. If we spend hours every day cleaning a huge house, we might not have enough time to prepare healthy meals, which is a need. Is the huge house a need or a want? If we spend so much time socializing or supporting others, it might mean that we can’t take care of our own mental health, which is a necessity. Can you honestly manage to keep being a caretaker to all those people?

Everything we have in our life requires both space and maintenance, so we have to choose wisely what gets a spot in our lives. Every mug, book, and decoration we have needs a spot in our home, and there is only so much space to be filled. Our cars and homes need regular upkeep and repairs. Oil gets gunky, tires wear out, and flooring and roofs aren’t eternal. But at least we can’t argue that most of us need a place to live and a mode of transportation. However, are all of the things that we have in our lives a necessity, or are many of us overtaken and stressed out by having too many things we want cluttering up our lives?

I mean, hey, I’m not preaching; I myself am a book hoarder. Other than a little dusting, there isn’t a lot of maintenance, but they do take up space. I still have text books from college and children’s books from when I taught. Although I have gotten rid of some over the years, I admit that I have more than I need. In a small apartment, I have had to resort to putting totes of books in both the attic and the cellar. My mental health is far better when I have space to move in my home. I cannot function with the chaos of every nook and cranny being filled, so I’ve had to prioritize which books get a spot in our apartment today, and which have to wait patiently to sit on a shelf again until we own a house with a den.

Now, let’s focus on the non-material things. Relationships take up space in our lives and require regular maintenance just like physical things do. It’s a different kind of space, but mental and emotional space have limits too. Building something meaningful with someone takes time and energy, and let’s face it, we only have so much of those things. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, it feels like a particular relationship is just too much. Maybe the other person doesn’t seem to speak your language or their constant negativity is bringing you down or they don’t respect your boundaries. It’s difficult, but just like material things – maybe even more so – when a relationship is taking up so much space in your life that you don’t have anything left, sometimes we have to let it go completely or at least accept that it needs to change somehow. A minimalist mindset is keeping what works for you and letting go of what doesn’t.

It’s ironic, but one of the most wonderful things about this minimalist mindset is what you gain when you let go of things that no longer serve your growth. With space cleared, both literally and metaphorically, you see that what was always real, remains. You have the clarity to see what your real needs are and use all of your resources to focus on those things. I was amazed to find how the quality of my relationships and my health, income, and peace increased by taking on a more minimalist mindset.  

~ Peace and Love, Tracey

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