Minimalism and High Sensitivity: How to Simplify Your Life When You’re Highly Sensitive
Minimalism and High Sensitivity work great together. After much trial and error, I realized that being minimalist calms the senses and keeps any extra stimulation to a minimum.
People with high sensitivity are affected by everything around them, work, home, commute, noisy neighbors, and even clothing. To become more comfortable in your life of high sensitivity cutting out the chaos should be a priority.
Chaos can come in many forms, from clutter around your home to a hectic work/life schedule.
Being mindful of your time and space will bring you a calm and peaceful life. If you can create that calm, you will be better equipped to deal with what life throws at you. To start, understand the concept of minimalism and bring it into your life in small steps to a point where you are comfortable.
In researching minimalism, many things hit home for me. Most people start their working life with a dream of eventually owning a home and doing well in life. To be successful, we work 50-80 hours a week to buy the big house and then buy lots of stuff to put in it.
You also have anxiety because instead of putting your money in a savings account, you keep spending it to ensure everyone knows you are successful and doing well.
Over time you realize that it doesn’t make you happy because you are too tired from working to enjoy it, but now you have a mortgage to pay. At this point, you don’t control your life or your time because you are in a circle of working too much and spending too much.
Have you ever spent a full day trying to clean out the garage only to realize you have not used 90% of the items you are storing and have been storing for a few years? What a waste of time to clean and organize things you never use and probably won’t in the future.
The same applies to your wardrobe; if you have too many things, your wardrobe will overflow, making it hard to pick what to wear. You do not need ten black tops; two or three are more than enough.
Apply that principle to everything in your wardrobe and clear the rest for goodwill. When I did this, I did not miss anything I had given away; none of it mattered. What was wonderful was that my wardrobe looked so clean, and it was easy to see everything I had.
The benefits of a minimalist
home & lifestyle are:
Less Chaos
Visual Appeal
Financial Freedom
Less Cleaning
More Time
Peace of Mind
Minimalism and High Sensitivity in the Home
In your home, less is always more, you want your home to feel warm and welcoming, and a cluttered house will not create that feeling. This is where minimalism kicks in, and having less in your home will make it feel more extensive and open.
We all tend to fill our homes with stuff; that wall is bare; let me buy some furniture or artwork to fill it up. There is no need to do that.
Put only what you need in your home. Only keep items that mean something to you. Don’t keep stuff “in case” you may need it one day; it all just takes up valuable space.
Some people become extreme minimalists, and others slowly incorporate it into their lifestyle to a comfortable level. At the beginning of this process,
I started with small sections of my home and ruthlessly got rid of things. It’s amazing what you accumulate that you never use or need. After doing this, I realized just how much it had affected me.
How to make your Home
a Minimalist High Sensitivity Sanctuary
Light
Allow natural light to flow into your home as much as possible; a sunlit room eliminates shadows and feels more welcoming.
Replace heavy drapes with white bamboo French blinds and sheer white curtains, creating an airy, open feeling and letting in light.
When hanging curtains, it’s best to hang them high above the window, just under the ceiling and wide, going past the sides of the window.
This creates the illusion of a bigger, grander window, but it also makes your room feel taller and draws the eye up.
In addition, add lamps throughout your home to create different lighting levels rather than one very bright light for each room; it creates a more intimate setting.
Paint
Soft neutral colors are the most calming; my favorite is a white, blue, and gray color called Coastal Fog. Depending on how the light hits it, it looks gray, and other times it looks blue.
I painted the entire interior with this color, and it is incredibly peaceful. Any soft white color has reflective qualities and will make your space seem more open.
I painted the walls and ceiling the same color, making you think the ceiling is higher than it is.
If you paint it another color, it will break the flow. I don’t recommend stark white paint; pick something with a touch of another color that will soften it considerably.
Furniture & Fabrics
Choose furniture that is low to the ground as this will create a more streamlined look and make your room look bigger; think midcentury modern. Avoid heavy, oversized furniture, which takes up too much space.
Clear a pathway through your home with an unobstructed walkway from one room to another; this creates a flow throughout the house.
Choose super-soft fabrics as much as possible for your sofa, carpet, or bedsheets. A big part of my high sensitivity is touch, so I surround myself with exceptional fabrics, and in the last few years, that has become incredibly easy as it seems to be on-trend.
Have a giant plush, a comfy blanket draped over your sofa for cold nights. A chenille throw blanket in your bedroom, whatever fabrics you like best, bring them into your home.
Mindful Décor
Being a minimalist doesn’t mean you have entirely blank walls or surfaces, but what you do place should be something you love. You need less of it.
Instead of having a wall full of artwork, consider one large piece.
A simple, beautiful vase with fresh wildflowers can create a fabulous centerpiece.
The items in your home should have a functional purpose or it’s something you treasure; everything else should go.
Maximize storage
Work on maximizing your storage and keeping items out of sight to keep your home clutter-free. The less the eye can see, the calmer the space will feel.
Clear Surfaces
As you get rid of your excess items, the next step is to keep the ones you have stored away so that the majority of the surfaces in your home are clear.
One, it’s less chaos for your senses, and two, the less you have displayed, the less you have to clean.
Financial Freedom
Having a minimalist life and home will also bring you financial freedom.
Instead of spending your paycheck on “stuff” that you don’t need, you can now save, travel, or pay your mortgage off early.
Use the money for life experiences rather than meaningless things that do not enrich your life. Minimalism allows me to do that.
HSP Review is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. This enables us to have an ad-free website. Learn more on our disclosure page.