But What About Downsizing?

How strange the word sounds to ‘downsize’. In a culture of bigger, better and more, this concept is foreign and opposing to the majority of society’s beliefs. 

Society has taught us that big houses filled with new and shiny toys means that we are successful and have made something of ourselves; and this should make us happy, right?

As we shine a light onto mental health now more than ever, we have started to look at what comes with the bigger, better, more complex and the toll it actually takes on our life satisfaction and overall happiness. 

So, what would really happen if we gave ourselves permission to pursue smaller? Maybe we could find contentment with what we have and meaning in simplicity. 

Downsizing has the potential for many benefits – haven’t you heard, ‘less is more’. Owning a smaller house can be mentally, physically and emotionally freeing and is a core concept of minimalism. Minimalism is a way of life that enables you to live with less obligations and stress, giving you more time and energy to dedicate to the things you truly enjoy.

While these all sound like positive rewards that would be desirable to many people, we must overcome mental obstacles and emotional barriers. The sentimental values we place on things greatly hinder this evolution. It can be difficult to enact downsizing when certain items and spaces hold memories we don’t want to forget. 

Now I’m not saying to get rid of every sentimental item you own. If it is useful or brings you real happiness then it could be worth keeping. Words I like to live by are ‘save the best – toss the rest’ and ‘keep one to represent many’. While a group of objects may remind us of a person, place, era, or feeling, other kinds of reminders are present in our lives that will bring about these feelings and memories as well. It doesn’t mean that we’re rejecting people we cared for by letting these items go. Your home and items are mere triggers of the memories and that’s what gives us that feeling of reminiscing. A way to help cope with any guilt or sadness when choosing to discard a sentimental item would be to give sincere thanks to an item. Take a moment to soak in the feelings and memories it may trigger and then let it go. For those items that you just can’t bare to let go, take pictures of the item, place the photograph in a photo album that you can display. Finally, give thanks to that item and then again, let it go. 

Go ahead, give yourself permission to live larger in less space.