I took a deep breath in, grabbed the sweater and put it in the trash bag.

One down, forty to go.

Looking through my closet, filled to the brim of clothes threaded with memories I started to feel okay with the change.

Two years ago life had asked me to make a massive lifestyle change by moving 1,000 miles away from home. It turned out to be the best decision of my life.

This time would be no different. As I set out on my journey of backpacking the world, the number one task at hand was to get rid of everything that didn’t fit in my 80 liter backpacker.

If you are looking to start a minimalistic lifestyle in order to evoke change and new energy into your day to day, the first step is to separate experiences from the material items.

I’m not here to tell you that you should throw out the music box that you’re grandfather gave you. There are some material items that should be kept forever.

I am here to say that those old sweaters from high school need to leave your life so that new ones can come in.

The trick to starting a minimalistic lifestyle is to feel okay with saying good bye to material items that you are placing emotional ties to. When you realize that throwing out those old clothes doesn’t have anything to do with disregarding the old memories, you’re liberated.

Those experiences get to stay with you while all of that new room allows for upgraded material items and memories to come back to you.

It takes two hands-one with a garbage bag and another willing to do the dirty work-to start a minimalistic lifestyle.

Take a deep breath and decide to open the spaces of your life up in order to create the necessary room for new experiences and positive energy to come in.