Tired of the daily grind? How adopting minimalism has changed our lives

When we first told people about our lifestyle change in 2016, we would often get asked questions like

• What is minimalism?
• Why did you choose this path?
• Does it make you happy?

We continue to be asked these questions as we meet people on the road, and therefore, I felt it was worth writing an article about our philosophy of minimalism, how it all came about and what it means for our happiness. I am saying our philosophy on purpose as everyone interprets minimalism differently.

What was our life like (before minimalism)?

Paul and I used to live the typical middle-class Western life: a big, beautiful, terraced house in Sydney’s Inner West (and an equally significant mortgage), well-paying careers with good growth prospects in our respective organisations, and supportive managers and colleagues. A comfortable life… so why give it all up?

Don’t get me wrong, I liked my job: I got a buzz out of the intellectual challenge and the fact that I was operating outside my comfort zone (almost) every day. I enjoyed working with so many brilliant individuals and shaping the organisation’s future through the projects I was involved in. But I also worked my butt off. Anyone working as a management consultant or project management professional in financial services (anywhere in the world) will tell you it ain’t a walk in the park. It has only become more challenging since the global financial crisis. I did this for seventeen years: Seventeen years of 50+ hour weeks, seventeen years of politics, and seventeen years of being stretched to meet ever-changing requirements.

When I got home in the dark, Paul was waiting for me with dinner prepared. Most days, I exercised by walking or cycling to or from work. If lucky, I’d get out early to swim at my local pool before it closed or attend a yoga class.

Every night, I would wake up between 0200 and 0400. Seldom would I be able to get back to sleep. Often, I would steal myself to the bathroom (so as not to wake Paul) and jot down notes on the notepad I’d keep next to my bed… for the analysis, I was conducting… the presentation I was preparing… or the senior stakeholder meeting I had the next day.

If lucky, I could catch up with a friend or two during the week after work. More often than not, though, I would only see my friends on weekends. To be able to rest and have time for myself, with Paul and my friends, we would pay for a cleaner to clean the house and for a gardener to maintain the garden… so that it would look nice on the rare occasion I was actually at home during daylight hours to see it or able to spend time in it those six or seven times a year when we would have friends over for a BBQ.

Leaving the non-monetary aspects of my career aside, I essentially worked… to earn money… to pay for a house (a mortgage, insurance, a cleaner, a gardener) that I could only enjoy a few waking hours. Although it was a proper home, it was far too big for just Paul and me and the occasional visiting friends and family.

Why did we choose this path?

I worked so hard that I didn’t have time for what was truly important to me: my health and loved ones. I also wanted to learn and expand my horizons beyond what I could in the context of my career. I am talking about discovering the world and immersing myself in other cultures… learning other languages… studying subjects that I have always been interested in… and exploring business ideas floating around in my head for years.

Life is too short to waste it with meaningless consumption of any kind.

I don’t remember where I read this quote, but it resonated. I felt like the hamster in the wheel… doing what I was doing… day in and day out… only rarely stopping and questioning whether this life was what I wanted.

On the other hand, I have had regular reminders throughout my life that life was short: My brother had leukaemia when he was 8 years old (he survived). A close work colleague passed away suddenly from an adult version of SIDS at the tender age of 27. One uncle died from malaria at only 55, while another passed away from complications after a stroke, far too young at age 60. My stepson Matt, who is in his 20s, lives every second of his life… despite (or because of) his cystic fibrosis and diabetes.

What is Minimalism?

When I met Paul, he lived in a shoebox… literally. His apartment was so tiny that you could pour a cup of coffee on the kitchen bench while sitting on the bed that was folded out of the closet. When he moved to Australia, he was recovering from depression and broke. He hadn’t accumulated much over the years, moving house every six months. Not even documents and photos… he only kept electronic copies.

Born and raised in East Germany, I was never a Material Girl. But when Paul and I moved together, I had quite a lot of stuff… Unlike Paul, I moved my humble possessions around the world… from Germany to England, and from England to Australia, adding bits and bobs along the way, and seldom giving things away (as they were perfectly fine, and you never know when you might need them).

I had even rented storage space… for the Christmas tree/decoration that would come out once a year, the furniture that my first husband didn’t want (and that I couldn’t fit into the apartments I had shared with housemates after my separation), and all sorts of stuff I didn’t even remember shipping around the world. Quite a bit of that stuff ended up in the house Paul and I shared, but that didn’t mean we used it more than when it was in storage.

Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favour of focusing on what’s important – so you can find happiness, fulfilment and freedom. – The Minimalists

I don’t remember how minimalism entered our lives. It wasn’t a single event… but a gradual process. At one point, Paul read Everything That Remains by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. Over time, he read other books and articles and listened to podcasts. At some point, we met Ryan and Joshua at an event at the University of Sydney—two humble, very personable guys with similar stories. We both became interested in tiny houses, shipping container conversions, off-the-grid living, etc.

Adopting minimalism made us question whether something we had or did give us value. After my first marriage broke down, I attended life coaching sessions, and documenting my values in writing our commitment statement highlighted what was important to me.

This helped me immensely in determining whether something gave me value. Owning a big, beautifully decorated home with a manicured garden, climbing the career ladder, or buying the latest designer fashion weren’t among them. The same applied to Paul.

As we reflected on our values, where we were in life, and what we wanted our lives to be, we realised that if we didn’t own everything (house included), we could earn less. In fact, given the worldwide disparity in the cost of living we encountered during our travels in 2012, we wondered whether it might be cheaper to live on the road than in Sydney.

Slowly but surely, the idea formed in our heads: Could we earn (and thus work) less and pursue what’s truly important to us (including building a business more reflective of our values) if we got rid of superfluous possessions and reduced our expenses? This is how Minimalist Journeys and our philosophy of experiencing more by living with less came about.

What is our life like now?

Since leaving Sydney, our daily routine hasn’t changed much. We still wake up around sunrise, and Paul continues to run most mornings. Unlike in Sydney, though, we can enjoy breakfast together and live our days in sync with Mother Nature: if the weather is fine, we head out exploring; if it rains, we stay home and work.

Since we are running a business together, we have fortnightly business management meetings to discuss and agree on strategic business matters and our tasks for the weeks ahead. We have different strengths and experiences and have divided key roles between us accordingly. We are driven and disciplined by nature, so pushing ourselves (and each other) to get things done isn’t difficult. Developing our website and other business ideas doesn’t feel like work (most of the time). We enjoy utilising our skills and learning new ones – just this time, it’s for the benefit of our own business, not for someone else’s.

We continue to make meaningful changes in the way we live. We’ve become (even) more focused on sustainability. I guess having experienced the beauty and fragility of our planet first-hand – from the Amazon Rainforest to the Galapagos Islands – makes us want to protect it (even more). From changing our deodorant or how we keep leftovers to how we select our gear and travel experiences, our life keeps evolving. That’s what journeys are about. Right?

So, does minimalism make us happy?

People look for happiness elsewhere, often believing that heaps of money, their partner or some distant goal once achieved will make them happy. For us, true happiness comes from within. Nothing apart from ourselves can make us happy.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony (Mahatma Gandhi)

Gandhi’s quote reflects how I see Happiness: To me, being happy means living a life that is aligned with my values, where I can be true to myself, and where I can explore and pursue whatever the reason why I am on this earth.

Our lives are more aligned with our values now than ever before. Are we happier because of this? ABSOLUTELY.

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