THE MINIMALIST LIFE

Travelling to the other side of the world is the perfect time for a clean and fresh start. Whether you want a break from people, from your work or just your everyday life it means getting to clear out the bad. And clearing out means a complete de-clutter and realising how many belongings you have that you really don't need. 

I've never been one for going shopping every weekend or wasting money on things I didn't need ... or so I thought. When the reality of going to Australia set in I realised that of course I had to consider all of my belongings and organise everything in to piles of:

-Things to bring with me to Australia
-Things to put in to storage
-Things to get rid of.

At first there were only a few things that I wanted to throw away but over a couple of weeks I started to look at things and think 'Is this actually worth keeping?'. I wont see any of these belongings for at least a year and half of them I don't think I would remember about by the time I got back, therefore why bother keeping them in the first place?

When I told my friend that I had recycled over ten pairs of shoes she looked at me as though I was insane. I have always had a lot more shoes than I needed because I'm that person that thinks, oh but what if I want to wear an outfit that matches only these shoes and then I don't have these shoes, I'll just waste more money buying another pair. Sounds logical enough right? Well not really because surely you could just manage to find a slightly tweaked outfit to match another pair? I'm also terrible for buying clothes that I really like but don't always suit me. Why did I buy them in the first place? Because I think they'll magically suit me eventually and then never wear them. I have a dress that I bought over two years ago and still have not worn once because every time I put it on I think it just doesn't sit right.

After ransacking my wardrobe I have gotten rid of over four black bags worth of clothing. I didn't even realise I had that many clothes to begin with. Of course it doesn't just stop at clothing and shoes - the number of lipsticks I have, books I read once but don't plan to read again, DVD's that I haven't watched in over a year, trinkets that I've collected to decorate with all add up to a massive pile.

I definitely think that we live in a society that is too materialistic; we think that having all of these things shows how much money we have, a million pairs of shoes or large wardrobe equates to a fashion guru and a room full of books proves just how much of a book worm you are. In reality I don't believe any of that to be true anymore; you can be a fashionista showing how many styles you can have with just a few pieces, a book worm can read their favourite books and then pass them to a charity shop or friends to share that joy. There are so many more important things to be spending your money on than the things that you think you need but only want because you think it will somehow improve your life.

I have found that over the years in trying to discover who I am as a person, what I'm good at and what my passion in life is, I've tried to become interested in too many things. This has had the opposite effect in making me forget all those things that I did truly love in the first place.

When I go to Australia I think that I will end up taking minimalism to a new level, considering I have to carry everything that I'm taking with me on my back. When I stop my travels hopefully I will have learned how little I need all the things that are currently cluttering my house. I want to learn to find more happiness in what is already in front of me, rather than distracting myself with what wasn't needed in the first place. After all there's nothing more important than growing and learning, but I find that very hard to do with so many things blocking my path.