To start things off, let’s find an answer to the following questions about a minimalist lifestyle: Who is a minimalist? What do they do? How do they live their lives? What makes them so different from non-minimalists?
Note that these are all valid questions with answers that can be defined in numerous ways.
According to Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, or
The Minimalists, minimalism is “
a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important – so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.”
And therein lies the true answer: minimalism is devoted to enabling people to be happy by any means necessary. Whether shedding most of their material possessions or living a nomadic lifestyle, minimalism is a counterweight to today’s prevailing consumerism among world peoples.
Given this sort of “explanation,” one might wonder what coconut oil has to do with being truly happy. Well, it’s a problem we’re happy to highlight.
The Search for Ultimate Happiness
Most people nowadays are victims of their surroundings. Whether they’re stuck at a dead-end job, frustrated that their bus is late every morning on their way to class, or can’t find the determination to get out of a doomed relationship – you name it, and there’s an example for it.
All this leads to people focusing on solving such “problems” and dealing with their immediate situations, and most of them tend to lose sight of the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that life is more than stress, work, and negative people. Life is supposed to be about happiness, living each day to the fullest,t and loving what you do.
So, how do you achieve that?
Short answer? By making a 180-degree change and focusing on what’s important.
Go back to basics. Go back to nature. Stop eating junk food. Stop spending all your time indoors. Stop being stuck in a rut every single day. Simply put, improve the quality of your life daily. Because time is of the essence, and you only have one life.
So, to work both quickly and efficiently, why not try to make changes both on the inside and outside simultaneously? It might sound not easy, but a minimalist lifestyle is much easier than you think. It’s as simple as cleaning up your diet and taking better care of your body.
We’re not saying you need to start putting in Arnold Schwarzenegger hours at the gym; it could be as simple as replacing tons of beauty products you currently use for your hair, skin, and teeth with one or two high-quality bottles of coconut oil per month.
Yes – it is THAT simple.
Here’s why. If you’re a minimalist – or better yet, en route to becoming one – coconut oil is the best companion you can have during this significant change in your life. Like any critical process, this kind of transformation takes time, and coconut oil is what you want to have by your side during this journey.
The logic behind our apparent ramble is quite simple yet, powerful. This is because coconut oil has only become popular among Westerners in recent years, and the full extent and diversity of coconuts and coconut products possess still relatively unknown.
On the other hand, people in parts of the world where coconut trees have been grown for generations have had to find ways of utilizing coconuts in unimaginable ways, partly because they’re all-natural and have numerous beneficial properties for humans, and partly because of the unfortunate poverty in which these peoples have traditionally lived.
That being said, do you want to discuss the connection between coconut oil and minimalism? Then you have no better source of information and inspiration than coconut farmers. These people have had to learn to utilize all things coconut because there was so little else to make a living.
Taking a page from their book is guaranteed to bring about countless improvements in our lives, but furthermore, those improvements have all been tested in practice many years before we even heard of coconuts.
Now, that explains the “why.”
As for the “how,” let’s take a closer look at coconut oil and how it goes hand in hand with the basic principles of minimalism: living off of natural, unprocessed foods, shedding most material possession,s and living a healthy and fulfilled life.
How Does High-Quality Coconut Oil Benefit a Minimalist Lifestyle?
We’re glad you asked.
The first thing to note is the numerous different types of
coconut oil. Living a nomadic lifestyle, which means spending most of your days in exotic destinations running around in a bikini or skinny-dipping among palm trees, with little-to-no material possessions in your ownership, often means cutting corners on many aspects of “normal life.”
And while you’re probably not going to give up using shampoo to wash your hair, chances are you will want to ensure it is at its best. Because of its high concentration of medium-chain fatty acids, coconut oil does wonders for hair follicles on a molecular level.
It doesn’t end there, though. The skin can also benefit from coconut oil, believe it or not.
Several studies done on individuals with dry skin have shown that the fat content and moisture of the skin improve significantly after several treatments with coconut oil.
Seeing how minimalists tend to live an aforementioned nomadic lifestyle and how that sort of lifestyle often lands them in tropical parts of the world that boast ample sunshine throughout the year, chances are dry skin might become an issue to pay attention to.
Luckily, as aforementioned, another good thing about coconut oil is that it not only helps hair but also
heals the skin to stay healthy.
You might have heard that coconut oil can also be very effective as a sunscreen. While this is partially true, it needs to be said that it depends on your respective skin type. In reality, if you have darker skin that’s not prone to sunburn, you might also benefit from using coconut oil as a replacement for actual sunscreen.
On the other hand, if you have pale or light skin and are used to applying SPF 60 every 30 minutes while sunbathing, you’d be better off continuing with actual sunscreen. This is because, unfortunately, coconut oil has a very low natural SPF of around 4. Plus – we ARE talking about oil here.
So, pay attention to your skin type and make your own decision. But, if you’re a dark-skinned minimalist looking to lead a life with only the most necessary possession, it might be a good option.
It doesn’t end there, however. If you don’t feel like buying mouthwash every couple of weeks, you’re in luck –
coconut oil might also come to the rescue here. Namely, it can be a good substitute for mouthwash in
oil pulling. This process has been used for thousands of years among indigenous peoples, killing off some harmful bacteria in the mouth cavity. It can reduce bad breath and improve dental health, which is a plus.
So, if you’re on your way to becoming a minimalist, try some high-quality coconut oil. If you enjoy its benefits, you’re on your way to a long, happy, and healthy life. And if you’re neither – what in the heck are you waiting for?
The Minimalist Lifestyle: Closer to Nature
Nature isn’t going to come knocking on your door, asking you to go out there and make your life better. You’re the one who has to make yourself want to improve your lifestyle. Remember – start small. Do a small-scale experiment before you even consider selling off your car and house. Get some high-quality coconut oil and try to incorporate this natural super-ingredient in as many aspects of your daily life as possible. You’ll notice the results pretty soon. After that, get out there and explore the ever-changing tide of life some more.
Maybe travel to a destination where coconut oil is made, like the Philippines. The best part? Your possibilities for a minimalist lifestyle are endless, quite literally, because you’ll always be able to find a desk job at an office somewhere, a construction gig, or a burger-flipping career at a fast-food restaurant.
The thing is, what are the chances that these jobs are going to make you happy? Note that we said HAPPY, not RICH. If you think about it, money is good but a necessary evil.
True happiness is often found in the absence of money. True happiness is often found in a tropical land halfway around the world, in turquoise lagoons, under starry skies, with good people and no worries.
Oh, right – and with a couple of bottles of high-quality coconut oil. Maybe a couple of beers, too.
But that’s just us. The point is – take a risk and try new things. Time will pass anyway.
You might as well make it count.
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