I first heard the word minimalism when the popular documentary Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things was released in 2016. I remember watching it and thinking I could never do that because I like my stuff. At that time I was more than 100 pounds overweight and didn’t want to leave the house to do anything on my weekend days off. I spent those days cleaning and organizing while staying in my cocoon of stuff. Then, on Sunday, July 1, 2018 after spending all day cleaning and organizing my daughter’s room, l sat down to take a break and suddenly had tunnel vision and tremors. I called out for help because I knew something didn’t feel right. I tried to stand and fell immediately. I could not get up because I had lost control of my left side. I then realized I was having a stroke. My husband called 9-1-1, and I was lucky that I was able to get treatment right away. After getting a TPA shot at my local hospital I was flown by helicopter to a hospital with specialized stroke care 2 hours away from home. I spent 9 days in the hospital and then another 8 weeks doing outpatient physical therapy so that I could learn to walk again. I fought to avoid in-patient therapy because I desperately wanted to go home.
I think sometimes it’s ironic that I was trying to declutter and organize my daughter’s room that day when I had a stroke. Of course I really only got rid of trash and then just tried to organize everything else rather than actually getting rid of stuff that clearly did not fit in her room. Thankfully I survived and that’s not how I spent my last day. Here I am 5 years later, but I am no longer the same person I was before. My stroke was a huge wake-up call and while I still deal with some lasting effects such as my left side being much weaker than my right side and some memory issues, in many ways my life is better now. For the past 4 years, I have put most of my energy into losing weight and improving my health, but now I’m ready to improve other aspects of my life. Now I want my house to be lighter also.
Weight loss, minimalism, and financial freedom