By Victoria Q

One sentence: I want to slow down.

The modern world moving at a fast pace, just like everybody, I also got dragged along. I’m the type of person that always fill up my schedule and has 2 pages long to-do lists every single day. Okay, let’s not exaggerate it. Perhaps my to-do lists haven’t reached 2 pages, but I do have a super packed schedule every single day.

I usually plan my schedule a week before. I’m currently working full time on a typical 8-5 office job. At night, I work on my essay like the one you’re reading now, and I have an online course to attend, and I make my lunchbox for the next day, and I make dinner for myself, and I create new recipes, and I read other’s people essay to connect and support them, and I start finding inspiration for my next essay.

You see, both my brain and schedule were packed! I know I sound crazy, but I feel at peace and productive when I got to see my packed schedule. I know this is extremely bad for both mental and physical health. And I know I need to make changes to this unhealthy lifestyle. So, I take this opportunity to re-approach minimalism and slow down.

I re-evaluate what minimalism means to me, and what life means to me. To me, life is a stop, a station, a temporary journey before death. Everyone will go through this stop before meeting their death. It can be a short stop or a long stop. Whether it’s a meaningful or meaningless stop, you decide it. You have full control of making it a meaningful stop as ever in your life or just letting it go with the flow.

What minimalism means to me? If I were to define minimalism, I would say it’s a lifestyle. It’s a slow living lifestyle to really help me see what I value the most. By identifying my priorities, I know where to focus and what to remove. This also means removing all the distractions that can block me from seeing my priorities. Distractions come in many forms, and it’s more common to define as “stuffs”. So, remove stuffs that I don’t need, and I can solely focus on my priorities. Combining the meaning of minimalism and the meaning of life, I want to enjoy my life and make it as meaningful as ever before moving to the next destination.

I approached minimalism and failed once back in 2019 because I did it the wrong way. I also got very ill around the same year, so I felt lost in my life. Through that, I learnt to see what I can improve in certain aspects of my life and where to put my priority in.

How about you all? What life means to you, and what do you do to focus on your priorities? I’ll love to hear from you so comment on the below!

I explained why I failed minimalism back in 2019 in my previous post, check it out here:

I Failed and Re-approach Minimalism