My Minimalism Journey

As someone who’s kind of always had a love for shopping, I’ve really had to place boundaries on myself when it comes to my spending habits- and I do consider myself to be frugal in some ways as I don’t like to invest or splurge all that often. However, I do feel like minimalism has helped me to see which habits I need to work on and how to care more for the things I already have.

I honestly cannot state this enough, but I do feel like YouTube has impacted me in many ways that I never thought possible. I personally got my first taste of minimalism through this channel called “Break The Twitch” (Channel link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyicqwQM9aIZ9mAw5xP4Q2g) So with like any other random search on YouTube, you’ll see recommended videos alongside whatever video you’re currently watching. I believe I first saw videos from the channel pop up as I was watching some kind of fashion/lifestyle video. I didn’t think much of it at first when I just started out with watching Anthony’s videos (the creator behind BTT). However, the more I visited after that first one, I noticed myself becoming a lot more vulnerable and aware within my own mindset and how that carries into these impulsive habits I sometimes have. It was kind of scary and overwhelming at first as I really struggled to understand how minimalism was going to look like for me.

The next person I stumbled across within this movement was Matt D’Avella (YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ24N4O0bP7LGLBDvye7oCA). He’s a filmmaker who directed the Netflix documentary entitled Minimalism which features the originators of this lifestyle’s comeback (Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus, ie. “The Minimalists”). As a side note, I was exposed to a couple of their videos back when I was at Smyrna for job training last year.

I’d say that for the most part, I’ve always been a pretty organized person. If there’s anything in my space that I had too much of however, it was these collections of things that were of cheap value, things that were kept “just in case”, and other things that were hidden away or even within eyesight. Since finding these other people like Matt D’Avella and Anthony Ongaro, I’ve gotten rid nearly all of that extra clutter and it’s really made a world of a difference for me.

If there’s anything that I’ve learned through this process (because minimalism isn’t something you achieve in only one night or day), it’s that the more you practice the habit of decluttering and owning less of the unnecessary, the more you’ll find yourself feeling more focused on things that have higher importance or value.

This blog that I post on is something I’ve had for a few years now, but when I see the content I made then as opposed to now, I definitely feel like my passions and interests have shifted for good reason. I feel like I’ve created a lot more opportunities for myself because of minimalism and knowing that they’re out there at least excites me.