Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life- Book Review

Picture by The Minimalist; Design by Jodie Parris

One year ago I finished reading the book Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life

I had ordered the book all the way back in December of 2017, and it had sat on my bookshelf and TBR (To Be Read) list for nearly seven years. My best friend even read it before I did, and ended up loving it.
Like many people I had discovered the Kon Mari Method, and felt it would be a great supplement to that mindset when it came to stuff in my life. However, it was within the pages I discovered that it was a book that wasn’t only about stuff, but about how to be intentional in life.

The Five Values it discusses as part of helping you live a meaningful life:
1) Health
2) Relationships
3) Passion
4) Growth
5) Contribution

Each chapter starts with the same example but they change the view and lenses of that example in accordance to the value they’re discussing.

My Take Aways from the Values:

1) Health
This part of the book was probably the easiest one for me to see how I value and prioritize in my life. My world truly revolves around my health! Being diagnosed with a chronic disease at 20 years old makes you realize how you aren’t invincible, and that health can change in a blink of an eye. With my journey into understanding more of my mental health, redefining my workout routine, and tracking my sleep habits better, I really felt this was an area I was and am thriving in. Still, a good takeaway for me was how to be intentional with food choices.

I have always had a complicated and unhealthy relationship with food from overindulging and eating out of emotion, to restricting and not eating enough. Throughout the book it highlights important things to consider with eating. For me the biggest takeaway from the chapter was realizing I needed to redefine what my view point of health was when it came to my eating habits, and find a balance between my favorite health foods and my pleasure foods.

2) Relationships
The chapter on this value made me look at relationships from a different perspective. They highlighted the big three with intimate relationships, your partner, your closest friends, and your immediate family. I also appreciated how they called out other types of relationships in our life like with work, and community organizations, and the impact they have on your life. In this chapter they challenge you to assess and rank your list of relationships in your life, and focus on having healthy relationships for you. This is a chapter that I feel I will revisit often as people come and go in my life. It’s a chapter that one year later I am still digesting.

3) Passion
This value was a validation chapter for me. A big focus is on careers, and how in life our career becomes how we identify our existence in many ways, which isn’t good. Our value and worth with how we see ourselves ends up being tied to our job title and salary. This chapter shook me to my core, and it’s a part of the book I wish I would have read sooner in my life. This was a HUGE life lesson I went through in the years in-between buying the book and actually reading it. Reading the advice in this chapter validated why I made some of the choices I did when it came to my career.
It also just drives home following your passion and immersing yourself in it because it will bring more passion to your life.

4) Growth
This value and chapter is focused on personal growth, which I am a big advocate for. It’s so easy to just fall into the rhythm with adulting with going to work and going home, and almost becoming complacent with your life. Like we just accept this is the way it is and always will be. We sometimes fail at taking ownership of our life and the direction it goes, or let others or circumstance make decision for us instead of doing it ourselves. Some seasons of life are about survival with the circumstances at play, but eventually we have to grow and adapt so we don’t have to continue just surviving, which is growth.
A part I love about this chapter is it focuses on the small daily changes you can make.
Sometimes I worry I am not pushing myself enough in the personal growth category of life, but personal growth comes in many shapes and sizes. I think for so long I felt all my growth was tied to my career, relationship status, and accolades. However, personal growth is so much bigger than that.

5) Contribution
This chapter and value is the whole reason why I decided to bring my blog back to life last year.
The focus is mainly on contributing to what matters to you. Often times we see this in community or church organizations people get involved in.
With moving to a new county just two years ago, and not having a niche necessarily, I noticed this was something that was lacking in my life.
With learning the hard lesson how my career was not tied to my identity, I really had to think how can I give back and overall feel like my life has meaning beyond my intimate and close relationships.
In the past with the blog I have focused heavily on my lack of reach with people. Not seeing engagements on my social media posts, comments, shares, etc can be discouraging for me.

However, at the end as I read this chapter in the book I was reminded that this blog is how I feel contribution and meaning in my life. It’s how I feel the hard journeys and lessons I share with others were worth it. It’s my little corner, and though it may be small, I believe and have faith it reaches the people that need to see and read it.

So there you have it friends with my personal review and takeaways from the book Minimalism: Living a Meaningful Life. It’s a book I feel I can go back to anytime I am feeling like I need to refocus on a certain value, or redefine them in my life. I believe no matter where you are at in your journey there is something positive you can take from the words of wisdom of Joshua and Ryan.

Until Next Time,