So many of us have asked the question: What is my purpose? Or my why. I grew up in Iowa, made a stop of fourteen years in Salt Lake City, Utah, and then transplanted to Dallas upon meeting my husband, Kevin Thompson. He lived in Texas and I in Utah, so after dating just over a year, we decided the over one thousand four hundred miles apart could only go on so long. Growing up in an average American family with functional dysfunction, graduated from Drake University, lived in three different states, experienced a divorce after fourteen years, and now remarried nine years, I've come face-to-face with ample discipline. And after moving eight times in the same nine years, you don't just clean your house, you clear your mind. This story of why and how the art of living a minimalistic lifestyle will do more than create harmony in your home. It's shifted us from investing in our flesh to an ongoing investment in the Spirit. We also wish to be understood like the millennials you may not agree with all our choices, home decor, or facets of life we've carved out like artwork, literally. I'd like to say it's been a quick, simple shift, but we've had to make some eye-opening and major decisions in our behaviors. Not because of lack but for the greater cause as our goals, dreams, and desires have shifted. In order to move forward, you must look for a moment to learn from life's challenges and be disciplined.

Discipline brings about wisdom because we learn something through every challenge no matter its size. Not only did our goals shift, but the mind-set for why we were creating these goals has changed. So when asked what does being a minimalist mean, just remember one word: humble. I pray and hope through my testimonies I'll share from my journey, you'll humble your heart, create your own goals, and integrate those pieces of minimalism that speak to you throughout this book. Most importantly, remember to move not just the stuff from your life but make it a lifetime journey to be more with less.

Abscission will tell our story of the paradigm shift we made toward living an intentionally simple life and finding where needing less left us wanting more: more time, more appreciation, more quality, more freedom, more meaning, more purpose, more creating, more hope, more health, more wisdom, more discipline, and more life to be lived fully. Like a tree has its seasons shedding old leaves and bearing new fruit, abscission is the full circle definition of how minimalism takes place in your life once you fully understand what it has to offer.