How to Live a Minimalist Lifestyle极简生活如何过

瑞安·米切尔　王慧仪/译

Minimalism can take many forms; the important part is to figure out your flavor of minimalism and optimize your life towards your ideal life. To get started with a more minimalist lifestyle， you might want to consider a few different approaches.

極简主义可以有多种形式；重要的是弄清自己的极简风格，优化自己的生活，以过上理想的日子。想开始一种更简单的生活，你可能要考虑一些不同的做法。

Try decluttering your possessions

试着清理物品

To live a simple lifestyle， youll need a simple living space. Take some time to declutter your living area. Focus on keeping things that you value deeply， and toss things that you dont need any longer.

要过一种简单的生活，就需要一个简单的生活空间。花些时间去清理自己的生活空间。只保留那些你真正看重的东西，扔掉那些你不再需要的。

I like to complete the decluttering process in sweeps; get rid of anything that you know you no longer use. Take a few weeks to live without those things， and notice if the things youve kept are serving you.

我喜欢分批次完成清理。处理掉自己知道不会再用的所有东西。过几周没有这些东西的日子，注意留下的东西是否有用。

Question everything about your lifestyle

质疑生活方式的方方面面

The best skill you can hone in your life is the ability to take a step back and look at things objectively. As humans， we have blind spots into things in our lives that hold us back. It could be a toxic relationship， it could be not holding ourselves accountable when we should have stepped up， its the million little things that bother us as we go about our day. Any time I realize I just got used to something or hear “thats just how weve always done it”， I start to ask questions.

你在生活中能磨炼出的最好技能就是做到退一步客观看待事物。作为人，面对生活中阻碍我们前行的事物，我们会有盲点。可能是一段有害的关系，可能是该自己负责时没有采取行动，可能是每天烦恼的无数小事。每当我意识到我只是习惯了一些事，或是听到“我们一直以来都是这么做的”，我就会开始质疑。

I found that me fixing small little things in my life that bothered me was a game changer for me. I had a whisk that Id make eggs with every morning， but I hated it because the handle was so uncomfortable. Its such a little thing to be bothered by， so I just put up with it. Then one day I realized every day Id pick up that whisk and it bothered me and said aloud “Whisks are like $5， why am I putting up with this！”.

我发现，解决生活中困扰我的小事，对我来说相当于改变游戏规则。我有一个打蛋器，每天早上都用它打蛋，但我不喜欢用，因为手柄握起来很不舒服。这件事微不足道，我也就忍了下来。后来有一天我意识到，我每天都会用那个打蛋器，每次都会感到困扰，于是我大声告诉自己：“换个打蛋器不过五美元的事，干嘛要忍呢！”

Stay mindful and live with intention

保持思考，生活有目标

Minimalists live intentionally. If there is something in your life that you dont love， change it！ I like to think about what my ideal life looks like， and then work towards that. Cutting out the things that arent serving you is the first step to creating the life that you want. An exercise that helps me is to write down what an ideal day would look like for you in five years time. Then outline what things you want more of in your life and what things you want less of in your life. With that in hand， you have a goal post to work towards as a goal.

极简主义者生活有目标。如果生活中有自己不喜欢的东西，那就去改变！我喜欢思考我的理想生活是什么样子，然后为之努力。去除那些无助于你的东西，这是实现理想生活的第一步。有个练习对我很有帮助，那就是写下五年后你理想生活的一天会是什么样子。然后列出你生活中想要增加及减少的东西。有了这些，你就有了一个可以为之努力的目标。

Consider your lifestyle around relationships

针对人际关系思考生活方式

Going minimalist to me meant that I was spending time with only the people I wanted to spend time with. Though I have many friends， only a few of them are people who motivate and inspire me to grow and learn. I evaluate my relationships on how well they fit into my future ideal life and focus there.

对我来说，极简生活意味着我只和我愿意花时间的人相处。虽然我朋友很多，但只有少数能激励和启发我成长学习。我会评估自己的人际关系，看看是否符合我未来的理想生活，并专注于此。

To me， becoming minimalist meant focusing my social time on people who lifted me up. This way， I was maximizing my social time on people that mattered and freeing up time to spend on other priorities in my life.

成为极简主义者，对我来说意味着将社交时间集中于那些使我振作的人。这样一来，我的社交时间最大限度集中于那些我在意的人，腾出了时间处理生活中其他优先事项。

Doubling down on debt free living

努力坚持无债一身轻

A huge part of minimalism is creating financial freedom and the number one enemy of freedom is having debt. Throughout my journey working hard to get debt free has made almost everything else in my life better. If I didnt like a job， I had the money to find a new one. If the economy tanked， living below my means made it easier. If I had a big bill come up unexpectedly， I had the cash in the bank.

极简主义很重要的一点就是实现财务自由，而财务自由的头号敌人就是负债。在我的人生中，我一直努力做到无债一身轻，这使我生活中几乎所有事情都变得更好。如果不喜欢这份工作，我有余钱支撑另找一份。如果经济不景气，我量入为出就能度过难关。如果突发意外急需大笔用钱，我有银行存款可取。

The security it brings， the peace of mind you have and the ability to weather the worst life can throw at you is a blessing of the highest level. It also allowed me to be very picky about what jobs I took， how I spent my time， where I lived and the life I live.

这么做获得的安全感、获得的平和心态，以及应对生活中可能出现的最坏情况的能力，是最大的福气。拜其所赐，我还能十分挑剔地选择工作、选择如何度日、选择住在哪里，以及选择想要的生活。

Take time for introspection

花时间自省

One of the best “investments” Ive made in my life is to take time alone for introspection， which is just you sitting with your own thoughts to analyze your thoughts and emotions. In a world where we are so “busy” I think people are terrified to spend time with our own thoughts because theyd come face to face with some uncomfortable truths.

我生活中最好的“投资”之一就是花时间独处自省，和自己的思想列席而坐，分析自己的想法和情绪。在一个人人都如此“忙碌”的世界，我想人们害怕花时间去面对自己的想法，因为那会让他们直面一些不愉快的事实。

The biggest thing is to just make space to think. So put your phone on silent in the other room， turn off the TV and block out distractions and just sit with your thoughts. Youre going to feel a lot of internal resistance to this， but pushing through to the other side is where the magic happens. Ask big open-ended questions and dont judge the answers that come.

最重要的是騰出空间来思考。因此，把手机静音放到另一个房间，关掉电视，屏蔽干扰，就这样独自思考。你会感受到许多内在的阻力，但撑过去就会有奇迹发生。问一些开放式的大问题，不要评判得出的答案。