Minimalism & You

Minimalism – this simplistic movement is all around us. And as with all ideas that can be capitalized, more and more individuals are trying to structure minimalism into a rigid system so they can claim mastery and sell their ‘lessons’ to generate a significant amount of income. But that’s exactly the opposite of minimalism – it’s not a rigid system but an open lifestyle that is adaptable to each person. The basis is the same of course ‘Live more with less’ but the perception of more and less are the variables.

One person may consider living more as spending more time with their family where another may consider it as traveling more. One person may consider less as a reduction of physical items where another person may consider less as a reduction of unfulfilling relationships. No matter their perception of these terms, the collective objective is to obtain more value in their life by reducing the burdens that have no (or worse a negative) value in their life and adopting practices to ensure the discarded burdens don’t return.

If you do decide to apply minimalism to your life, try to steer clear of individuals that have a rigid system that must be followed to achieve simplicity. The problem with a system is its ‘one size fits all’ type approach. Just like with diets – the reason for so many diets on the market is because one body differs insanely from the next. And so, the same is to be applied to minimalism. Abilities, burdens, priorities and beliefs vary from individual to individual, creating a rigid system to apply to these differing lives could possibly do more harm than good. A system can easily convert reduction into deprivation if it is followed blindly.

However, do research and look at all the great minimalist sites available online to get diverse perspectives on minimalism rather than how-to’s on minimalism. Not to say you should ban buying e-books (or physical books) on the topic, but try to go for those that focus more on the author’s personal minimalist lifestyle rather than an instructional on how to live a minimalist lifestyle. By reading the author’s personal approach, you’ll be able to see the pros and cons of their minimalist approach to various areas in life and how they modified such approaches to improve or perfect the outcomes (pictured: Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus – the awesome touring duo that promotes minimalism throughout the world) . Be open to their suggestions and adapt the minimalist activities that benefit (and is suitable) for your lifestyle. Some activities may be easier than others, but keeping your objective in mind should bring comfort to the challenging tasks.

And remember, the core objective of minimalism is to live more with less – the route you take to achieve this objective is completely up to you!

You get your minimalism journey started The Minimalists site.

And you can read about my insights of simple living at Simply With Nikki.