How Essentialism Not Minimalism Helps Reduce Burnout – Thrive Global


Live
simply, have things in your life that serve your needs, purge and donate the
rest.

For the
longest time, I dreamed of being a minimalist. Someone that would only have a
few things, and discarding the rest. Walking into a living room that had a
couch, a table, a tv and not much else seemed to be perfect.

The
environment I was in was not conducive for my desire of minimalism.

Minimalists
often are described as someone that has one set of dishes, very few clothes,
basics. In the smaller condo landscape of Toronto, this style of living is in
alignment with the affordability of housing in this ever-growing city.

A few years
ago I read Essentialism by Greg McKeown, which altered my
perspective on things, and experiences.

Where
minimalism has you having limited items, essentialism is to have the items that
are essential to your desired living.

I used to
have a huge DVD and CD collection. Also had a bunch of comic books, baseball
and hockey cards, memorabilia, etc.

Most of
those items have been sold and/or donated. My music is streamed, and when I do
watch movies or TV I use streaming services or OTA (no cable!)

My books
are mostly ebook flavor, although I tend to receive a couple dozen books every
year to read/review by the author and/or publisher. Great gig!

Now my life
consists of things that are essential to me, to accomplish what I want and
choose to do in life.

I don’t
need to rent a storage locker. I don’t have a basement full of things that I
haven’t touched in months/years. People fail to realize they are spending money
to store things they don’t use. You’re paying utilities on a larger property to
have rooms that don’t get used, to store things that may have been of use to
you before, but no longer are.

Much like
the exercise of purging activities from your life every 6 months, you should
periodically go through your belongings and see what you’re no longer using.
Someone else could use those things, so donate them.

When you
have the things in your life that are essential to what you want to do, you can
help reduce your burnout, because you’re not suffering with the clutter or
financial challenges of storing all of those things.

If you need
help figuring out what is essential to you, reach out to me. Happy to have a
chat!