「one year older and 4 lessons i've learnt.」

lesson 1 "norms of society have not always the right answer for you" - I’ve learnt that our society is ruled by unspoken norms. Mostly norms are about how you "should" live your life. And so, I’ve learnt the great value of making active lifestyle choices. I want to live a life most true to myself. No ones else are living your life but you. Not your friends, not your partner, not your parents, not your siblings - but you. If you want it, who cares if it's against the norm or not.

I ask myself:

• Do I really want to do this, or is this something other people except from me? (examples: getting a certain degree or a certain career, having children, etc)

• Do I really make an active choice now, or is this just something I do because everyone else are doing it? (examples: owning a house, getting married, etc)

• Are these really my opinions, or are they someone else's? (examples: opinions passed down from a caregiver, teacher, family members, etc)

lesson 2 "imperfection and growth is necessary" - I’ve learnt to value things that are imperfect and also that growth is essential. I’ve never seen myself as a perfectionist, but I know how perfectionism can make one give up things in life because of ones high standards ("it doesn't matter, i just don't have the talent") or because of the fear of making a fool of oneself ("people will think i'm stupid"). So what if people think you're stupid? Most of the time - no one will care. If I was a perfectionist I wouldn’t have dared to make music and started to produce on my own - because, to be honest, my production quality wasn’t that great in the beginning (i had lousy equipment and i had started to make music seriously). I still keep those videos up to remind me of my growth. I will always make room for improvements and I think one has to drop that self-judgement as a newbie, otherwise you can’t be great. be happy that you're a beginner and be proud that you dared to start. the master was once a beginner.

lesson 3 "less is more and time is precious" - I figured out that there is so much joy in having less and reducing the non-essential things in life. Why make it more complicated? Reducing freed up so much time and energy for me. Actually, I think having the time is a big part of being happy. To be able to decide about your own time and making room for things that’s the most essential in your life. To be able to have a hot beverage and slow down.

lesson 4 "embracing change and being thankful" - My last lesson I’ve learnt is that some things changes and some things don’t. I’ve learnt to let go because I know change it’s inevitable. I’ve learnt to embrace the new with open arms. I’ve felt gratitude for all that remains. I’ve learnt that pain will eventually pass and I’ve learnt that the present is the best place to be.

so these 4 lessons are thing's i've learnt in the past 10 years. being one year older makes me reflect on life. i'm humble and thankful! :)

「5 misconceptions of minimalism.」

As time passed and I’ve learned more about minimalism, I understand that there are some misconceptions about minimalism. There are more to minimalism than you realize. Here are some of them I want to mention:

1. The only objective is to reduce - False. Some people believe that the only objective is the process of reducing things. Well, there is a focus on reducing your stuff, yes. But minimalists don’t just reduce their possessions for the sake of reducing. The true objective is to eliminate distractions so you can focus on the things that are truly important. Minimalism helps you understand yourself better, your core values and what’s important to you.

2. Your home needs to look in a certain way and you have to throw away your colorful wardrobe - Haha. False, there are many different types of minimalists. Like I mentioned, the objective is reducing the distractions in your home. Some minimalists like to live with less things and some minimalists like to live with more things. Everyone is different and what everyone values most will be different, so their homes will be different.

3. Minimalists judge non-minimalists - False. I believe most minimalists just don’t care and think that the most important thing is that the other person is happy. Everyone doesn't have to be minimalists to be happy. A minimalist saying a comment like: ”what, you have this much stuff?!” is the same for a non-minimalist saying: ”what, you don’t own this thing?!” People should chose their own way of living and respect each other. I have a friend who has a really colorful and decorated apartment and you can feel when you walk inside that the apartment reflects her style and personality, and I love it and respect her choice!

4. Minimalism is a deprived lifestyle - False. I speak for myself when I said this. Minimalists don’t deprive themselves. Many minimalists are completely happy living with less and feel like they haven’t sacrificed anything at all. Minimalism is built around the idea that there's nothing that you're lacking. As for myself, I have everything I need and I live more intentionally.

5. Minimalists don’t value things and money - False. My possessions serve me in my everyday life, so I value them. Money is necessary for me to survive, so I value money. But for me, I know I don't need to own a lot of stuff to be happy. I don't need to be rich to be happy. The view on material possessions and money becomes less important. Money and things are not the most important things in life and not something I want to spend so much time on.

「i am a minimalist.」

I’d like to write more about some topics that I’m really interested in. One of these topics is that I am a minimalist. It’s something I’ve discovered in the beginning of 2019, so you can say that i've lived as a minimalist for two and a half years. I’m thinking of sharing more about my perspective about minimalism on this blog - mostly for the pleasure I get from being geeky and talking about this and also for documenting my thoughts. And for you, reading my blog, I also hope that you get something out of this reading too.

So, I’ve always liked a clean and organized home. I’m a structure geek. I love making lists. I love planning. My room was often clean and organized when I lived at mom’s home. I liked to go through my stuff and decide to donate or keep. I helped my mom to clean out her storehouse, it was a lot of fun. So with my own apartments, I’ve liked to keep it neat and clean. Sure, it became messy sometimes, but I preferred my home to be clean and tidy.

Fast-forward to the day when I wanted to put up my TV on the wall. I got rid of the TV bench. You see, I learned about something called minimalism and a podcast called ”The Minimalists”. I learned a lot and my decluttering period began. I really started to look at my things with a new perspective.

Here are some small notes about minimalism from my own perspective:

• Minimalism is a lifestyle in which you reduce your possessions to the absolute minimum you need

• Minimalism is a tool. It’s not an end goal by itself.

• Minimalism is so much more than material possessions. It can also involve mental and emotional decluttering, digital information, toxic relationships, unnecessary activities, hobbies, unhealthy habits, and so on.

• Minimalism focuses not only on decluttering but also on everything that remains.

• Minimalism continues. The decluttering process proceeds every year.

• Minimalism is about minimizing, it's not about organizing and cleaning.

• Minimalism lifestyle is different to every person, it’s not a one size fits all. There is no criteria on how much or how few things you own to call yourself a minimalist.