By Candace King
I am a minimalist. I am a world traveler. I am a single mom. I am also a teacher. I am a sister, a daughter, a friend. I am a lover, a cook, a cleaner, and a writer. We all have many hats to wear in the course of our daily life. Our lives are often a chaotic jumble of the things we need to get done. This is where minimalism comes in handy.
Minimalism is the appreciation for experiences over the accumulation of things. As a single parent, minimalism gives the tools needed to simplify our life effectively. It opens life up to greater joy and creativity. Here’s how.
Do more of what you love:
Minimalism for the single parent is a chance to focus on doing the things we enjoy doing and less on the things we don’t. As a minimalist, normally the first thing you will do is clean your house. You will declutter your place of residence of unwanted, unnecessary physical possessions. Once decluttered, your house will almost automatically become cleaner. Who wants to spend free time cleaning house? No one I know.
Once clear, we now have time to relax with our children, doing what we love to do.
Live with Purpose:
As a minimalist, we live with intention. We focus on our relationships, our health, our finances. Discovering the types of people we want in our lives and around our children we seek them out. We look at our finances. Seeing how we have wasted our money we manage it better. Our health is important because without we have nothing. Minimalism helps us to prioritize our time. We seek to do what is important to ourselves and our family.
The Future is Bright:
Through minimalism, our mind opens to the possibility of a better life. Even though single parenting is prevalent in our society, the stigma of being a broke single parent on welfare is still prevalent. Minimalism frees us of these ideas.
As minimalists, no longer do negative stereotypes and expectations bind us. We can see how we can travel the world, if we wish. We know that we can share great experiences with our children whether in a relationship or alone. Understanding we are enough comes from learning more about ourselves as a minimalist.
We understand ourselves better. With this understanding we make positive changes. We move in a positive direction with our lives. Our brain is clear from the fog of consumerism.
Minimalism: The How to Guide for Single Parents was written in simple language explaining to single parents the concepts of minimalism making it easy to apply them daily life. Single parenting does not need to be hard. There is joy in the journey.