I am about 19 days into my challenge to Get Fit.  After a few early stumbling blocks, I now feel pretty confident in my progress, not necessarily in terms of weight loss or skinnier mid-section but rather in overall feeling and well being.  I have been working out every day, whether that is weights or swimming or treadmill.  I have also been diligent in not eating junk food.  It’s funny because I don’t really even miss it at this point, so I will consider that a success.

On a separate note, I am a few days into a new challenge this month to ‘go minimal’. I already feel like this challenge (perhaps more than any other challenge I have tried to date) can actually become a lifestyle change.  Already have been able to do an initial purge with about 6 bags of stuff donated to Good Will.

Minimalism is a whole movement. In my interest in going minimal, I did some initial research and found some helpful resources like the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.  There is also a website I like about becoming a minimalist.

I will be honest, I like stuff. I have really had to come to terms with that aforementioned love of stuff.  Through this challenge my goal is not to truly adopt the title of ‘minimalist’ but there is an intoxicating pull to minimize and focus on what is most important.  I don’t intend to become one of those fancy people in a stark white, super urban apartment with soft lighting and a single utensil in a drawer.  I am not getting rid of everything so that my life can fit in a bag, but I am eager to simplify.

By minimizing, my larger goal is to reduce clutter and refine my focus. I plan to do this by adopting several of the most popular minimalism techniques and going through every part of my house to determine what I am holding onto unnecessarily. What stuff is important and what stuff is just stuff?