7 Mindful Living Blogs You Should Read
One of the reasons I created Everthrive is to connect with like-minded writers, educators, visual storytellers, and supporters of mindful living.
In my virtual explorations, I’ve come across many inspiring blogs, vlogs, websites, and podcasts created by these very types of people.
Below is a list of my current favorites with a focus on simplicity, motherhood, minimizing, and reducing distractions.
Perhaps you’ve heard of a few of these, but hopefully I’ve listed some you haven’t come across. Let me know what you think!
I hope you’ll find as much value in these voices as I have.
1. Afrominimalist — theafrominimalist.com
Christine Platt began her minimalist journey in 2016 when she became overwhelmed by her personal excess, a feeling that resulted in getting rid of most of her things. Instead of choosing the standard bare, white aesthetic, she created her own version of minimalism, a philosophy that reflected the beauty and mystery of the African diaspora. For Christine, minimalism is less about the aesthetic and more about the practice. She lives in 630 sq feet with her 16 year old daughter. Start with her TEDx talk!
2. Break the Twitch — www.breakthetwitch.com
Sometime in 2013, Anthony Ongaro felt completely out of control in a world where everything was vying for his attention. He vowed to change things drastically. Break the Twitch is all about building the habits “required to live a focused, minimalist life with maximalist meaning.” If you scroll to the bottom of his site, you’ll find videos, podcasts, and articles. I really like his point of view on minimalism. His work shows that minimalism isn’t just about material things; it’s also a way to eliminate mental clutter.
3. The Heaton Family — theheatonfam.com
Lauren Heaton is a home educator of four children, with a keen interest in sustainability, living an eco-lifestyle, fostering homemade creativity, travel, and cooking/baking. Her website hosts videos and articles sharing helpful advice for those who want to live simply as well as intentionally. She’s very down-to-earth and shows her followers what it’s really like to raise and educate four kiddos. Lauren also has an amazing eye for children’s literature, and I really appreciate her book reviews!
4. Minimalist Beauty — www.minimalistbeauty.com
In 2010, Dawn Michelle had accrued $20,000 of debt, mostly due to style and beauty consumerism. Since then, she’s eliminated this debt and has chosen to live more consciously and wants to share her discoveries with all of us. I appreciate her varied focus on zero waste, minimalism, motherhood, health/wellness, travel, and finance. A proponent of simple, organic beauty routines, she gives great hair and make-up advice - be sure to check out her skin-care line, AZUHA.
5. No Sidebar — nosidebar.com
No Sidebar is blog that focuses on the essentials and designing a simple life. Here, you’ll find a variety of articles and essays about getting rid of the excess and focus on the essentials. The works collected on this site (there are many authors represented, which is really cool) focus on cultivating clarity and peace of mind through downsizing and minimizing. No Sidebar is a project of Brian Gardner in conjunction with Becoming Minimalist’s Joshua Becker, a very well-known proponent of minimalism. I really like how No Sidebar is designed - simple, clean, and user friendly. The collective nature of this site is very inviting and I appreciate the inclusion of other voices.
6. Raising Simple — www.raisingsimple.com
Zoë Kim is a woman of many hats. She’s a horticulturalist, expert de-clutterer, minimalist, and recently became an architect: Zoë designed and oversaw the construction of her ideal “right-size” home, where she lives with her four children. She is also the author of one of my favorite minimalist books, Minimalism for Families, a book that takes the core ideas of minimalism and applies them to our everyday, real-life, lived-in spaces. Minimalism doesn’t have to be a stark, white room with one chair, one table, one tiny succulent plant, and a coffee cup. Zoë Kim’s short, concise guide was published in 2017 and will still be relevant many years in the future. I highly recommend it!
7. Someday Slower — somedayslower.com
After getting rid of 80% of her family’s belongings, Beth now lives simply and intentionally by the sea and loves sharing her discoveries with readers. As a mother, I really appreciate her candor and point of view, and her desire to help other mothers discover simpler ways of getting things done. Beth’s more active on Instagram than on her website, so be sure to visit her there also. Her keen eye for photography speaks for itself!
What do you think of my list? Can you think of other sites I should have included? I’d love to learn what you’ve been reading, watching, or listening to these days. Please comment below or send me an email at ali.everthrive@gmail.com
With gratitude,
Ali