When I was a little girl in the 80’s in Pakistan, I had always envisaged that as a grown-up, I would have a fancy “drawing-room” full of crystal, china, rare collectibles etc., brought from around the world, all staged in a curio cabinet. As a nod to my own love of books- and travelling – I had further decorated my imaginary house in with scores of sovereigns , exquisite and exotic pieces and well-bound leather books which of course I was going to collect on my numerous travels around the globe. My love for stuff – books, treasures, knick-knacks and things that I found ‘cute’ to display in my drawing room pursued me well in my 30’s.
A note for readers who have some confusion about the drawing room, here is a bit of the background: A ‘drawing room’ in a glorified sitting room used only for guests and special people, the furniture in which is covered with dust sheets most of the time, the room kept out of bounds for children with clumsy hands and sticky fingers. Special guests can include variety of people in our culture – very formal acquaintances, sometimes males of the guests, usually dad’s work friends, relatives (who knew exactly how we lived and constantly judged us on that but were given the status of esteemed guests- thus put in drawing room). Another purpose that this beautifully decorated and most revered space of the homes serves is the event of marriage proposals – in short when strangers come to “check out” the prospective spouses (in most cases girls) for their children!
If I had chosen to indulge in that dream world of mine, this is pretty much how my imagined drawing room would have looked like, give or take few collectibles here and there:
Image sources: architectural digest, tumblr
Not anymore though!
It took an immigration, a divorce, a child and a very busy career that managed to get the ‘love for stuff’ out of system and to give me a minimalist perspective. I stumbled upon the idea by chance- I had honestly only wanted to tidy up my house and to actually find things when I needed them. Marie Kondo’s ‘The life changing Magic of Tidying up’ was literal magic for me. I read it while on a caravan holiday and could not get home fast enough to throw away things. It was as if I had been given permission to get rid of things which I had held on to only because I had spent money on them or I had needed them at one point in time or my personal favourite ‘what-if-I-need –this-in-case-of-a-zombie-apocalypse’ mentality.
Image sources: unsplash, purplefairies
As I stepped into my home after the travels, I set out to declutter. Out went clothes which I had bought on a whim or to satisfy a shop-alcoholic urge to indulge in some retail therapy, followed by scores of things that I thought I would repair one day (the day that we all know never comes), the kitchen items acquired because they looked cool and techy but never used and ended with a ruthless decluttering of books and toys.
Interestingly, I struggled the most with text books, journals, exam materials and course manuals
that I had collected over the years and I still struggle with these- for me to actually chuck away
something that I once needed/learned from is still an abomination. I did a full de-clutter routine and continue to live by that rule.
Image sources: unsplash
My further reading after decluttering lead me to Joshua Becker and the online minimalist
community. Once again I was mind blown by how much little we actually need to live on and live
with and which to this day affirms the decision I made. With no other dominating economic system in the world, consumerism and capitalism has pretty much invaded lives of everybody on the globe and remains unchallenged till now.
Image sources: unsplash, we three shanes
For me, it became more personal as I realised that I have finite time and money – do I want to spend that on acquiring things or building memories, a designer bag or a lovely holiday, Jimmy Choo’s or a meaningful experience with my child? The choice is pretty obvious to me…
So readers, here is my journey towards minimalistic lifestyle – if you are looking into starting a minimalism living, simple life and more time and happiness, here are some more recommendations for books by Marie Kondo and by Joshua Becker. These have changed my life for better!
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