Rita Wilkins highlights ‘why less is more’ and the importance of ‘downsizing’

An award-winning interior designer and lifestyle coach Rita Wilkins sheds light on how one can live abundantly having ‘less’, in her TEDx Talk. Emphasising on why less is more, she urges the audience to downsize their lives.
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She shares an anecdote as to how her visit to Senegal got her pondering on the essentials of living: “I went to visit my son in Senegal and I was so warmly greeted the villagers of where he was living. Within a minute, the village elder picked up a live scrawny chicken and presented it to me as a gift that was of extreme value. That evening, the villagers prepared a beautiful dinner for 15 people, which included that little chicken. And while serving, the woman pushed the better parts of the chicken on my plate. At that moment I realised these villagers have so few possessions, but they were filled with joy. And I wanted that!”
Over the next couple of years, Wilkins started asking herself life-changing questions: “Does my stuff make me happy?”; “If I buy more stuff will I be happier?”; “What really gives me joy?”; “Can I choose to actually create a life I love?”

In no time, Wilkins turned her life upside down moving from a 5,000 sq. ft house to an 867 sq. ft home. When it came to downsizing, instead of making it a project, which she believes is harder, she decided to turn it into a game.
“Downsizing is not without emotions, but your relationship with the things lying at home changes, and it gets easier. As I was in the process of dispersing my stuff, it made me realise that these things didn’t bring me any happiness,” she explains.
Wilkins continues, “I gave away 95 percent of my possessions to people who needed them. This means I’m just living on 5 percent of what I owned. I have all I need and I’ve never been happier.”

She highlights living in “alignment with what matters most — more time with family and friends, more resources, more freedom to travel and learn — to actually live the life you design for yourself.”
Work-life balance is also something she inculcated in her everyday life amid the process of downsizing: “We now work three days and play in the rest four. And we actually grew the company 27 percent. So why might you choose to live with less so you can live more?” she concludes.
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