Adopt a simple life, and redefine your sense of purpose and identity in a consumer-driven society

A minimalist lifestyle, or a simple lifestyle, starts with rejecting conventional ideas of success.

Such as fancy houses, fancy cars, and fancy clothes.

It can be inspired, by reading, hearing, or watching content, about the lives of other people, who made the choice to reject conventional ideas of success.

Such as Thoreau.

Or Mahatma Gandhi.

Or John Robbins.

If you heed the advice in books, tv shows, and youtube videos of financial advisors such as Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey and David Bach, or people from the FIRE movement such as Mr. Money Mustache, that may also, automatically lead you to the desire to simplify your life, prompted by the initial desire to save money.

You may decide you want to enjoy the peace of mind, which comes with having fewer bills to pay, fewer expensive things to take care of, and more savings for fun and investments.

You can be attracted to a simple life, for several different reasons:

If you are a person of few needs, then a simple life may be natural for you.

Or you may decide to choose a simple life, because you want to be stress-free in times of unemployment.

You may also be attracted to the ideas of the FIRE movement, and retiring early.

Another scenario may be that, after going down the material path for a while, you discover it's not what you want, and decide to make changes.

For some, an epiphany (realization) may arise, after a negative event.

There are examples from ancient history, of people who have had such an epiphany, after a negative event.

Or you may begin simplifying as a temporary measure, in response to a temporary circumstance, only to discover you want to keep that simple life, because of how much it is benefitting you.

For example, by downsizing (going from bigger and more expensive accommodation to smaller and cheaper accommodation), you may discover the joy of, not just having freed up your time and money for other things, but also greater peace of mind, from lower bills, and fewer things to take care of.

The time and money you spent on maintaining, and protecting a big house, and all the possessions you had in it, can now be spent on travel, investments, or on your hobbies.

You can spend your time on activities and things, which are more interesting and meaningful to you, and which give you greater pleasure, or a greater sense of purpose.

Warren Buffett is famous for living simply, in spite of his remarkable wealth. Other than his jet, everything else in his life has been extremely simple.

And then there's Chuck Feeney, who, in spite of being a billionaire, made the decision to give away, not just all his money, but to live without the 2 things, every American thinks they can't live without.

Both Warren and Chuck Feeney discovered that living large, wasn't part of their plan.

Note, however, that there is a difference between being choosing a simple lifestyle, and being forced to live a simple lifestyle.

Because success can be so fickle (have so many ups and downs), anyone can go from a comfortable lifestyle, to a bare-bones lifestyle, overnight.

With money and bills being a constant worry.

To worry about money, is to be caught in its trap.

One way to protect yourself from the fickleness of success, and from being caught in the trap of money being a constant worry, is to make financial freedom one of your goals in your earning years, and to use a simple life (minimalism) as a tool, to achieve financial freedom, and keep your financial freedom, once you have achieved it.

If you read about how I did it, you can get some tips, and hopefully, it will help you realize there's nothing to stop you.

Other than a willingness to cut down and sacrifice, while still eating, having fun, and living comfortably. 

Go simple now, and you will be able to do some wonderful, even outrageously good things with your time and money, later!

Start today!

You won't regret it!