I’m a minimalist.
There, I said it.
I enjoy getting rid of stuff (and donating it, not just throwing it out). I enjoy a clean living space. I enjoy having less material things to worry about.
I’m not a ‘perfect’ minimalist in any way though. I like buying books. I have furniture, and even plants! I have little knick knacks I probably don’t need but I like them so I keep them anyway.
Yet despite all this, I am minimalistic in my decisions and style.
Which is what I’ve been thinking a lot about over the last few days. Because what even is minimalism?
If you’re looking for a definitive answer, you’re not going to find it here. I’ll just be sharing some of my thoughts on the subject, and hopefully by the end of it you’ll have a better understanding of how you can benefit from minimalism.
The definition The Minimalists give is that 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.”¹
That’s still quite vague, isn’t it. I think the important thing here is that by practicing minimalism you can (again) start to focus on the things that are most important to you.
As a by-product of this practice, you may find rest, happiness, and fulfillment. However, this is not the goal of minimalism.
Because I think by now we know that chasing happiness will never actually lead to happiness. Instead, “happiness is a by-product of a life well lived” ².
Now of course this does not mean we shouldn’t pursue a life that can lead to happiness. I believe we should. And as long as this is what we’re striving for, I believe that happiness will inevitably ensue.
In any case, now that we perhaps have a little better of an understanding of what minimalism is, I would like to make it a bit more difficult to understand once more.
Minimalism as a practice is often confused with minimalism as a lifestyle, a design style or an art movement started in the 1950s.
All of this–the woman living in a tent possessing under a hundred items, the sleek white kitchen with an empty marble countertop, the white canvas with a few lines in different gray tones–it’s all minimalism.
And a minimalist may even like all of these things! But here’s the thing: they don’t have to.
You don’t have to like minimalist design to practice minimalism. You don’t have to live off the grid to enjoy having less stuff.
Most of the minimalist content you’ll find online is of the (almost) perfect minimalist. The minimalist who does it all. And frankly that can be quite intimidating. It was for me when I first started out.
I’m not like that. Not at all. And you don’t have to be either.
Whether you’re just starting out practicing minimalism or you’re exploring minimalist design: just try to enjoy it. Find a way in which minimalism can work for you, without it being overwhelming.
Because if you’re interested in minimalism, you probably don’t want another new thing to worry about.
- https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/
- Quote by Eleanor Roosevelt