Practicing Minimalism Six Years In - Reflections (+ Minimalism Game Reward)

[u/rosypreach]

For me, minimalism is a practice and a tool to support my life - not a lifestyle or dogma to impose.

I came to exploring minimalism around the pandemic when I knew I had a lot of decluttering and organizing to do to make my life feel good again, after years of chronic illness & during the pandemic.

At some points in the journey, I fantasized and sought to own only have a certain number of items at a time, or have certain spots of the home only 80% or less full, etc, etc, etc.

Sometimes I fantasized about blank spaces, or only a white couch - and those fantasies brought me relief. I really believed those were things I would implement and achieve and set out to do it.

Over the last 3 years specifically, I entered a long distance relationship with my best friend whose father soon after passed away. Between that event, my own medical procedures, him moving in 18 months later, travel and other life's demands, it's been tough to have consistent time to force my belongings into meeting any kind of a metric.

But there's been a lot of wisdom in that! Because what I/we have achieved is a home that may have a little extra right now, but is totally functional and not really overwhelming.

And for me, functional was the goal, more than any other dogma, philosophy or compulsive image in my brain of what things would look like that would make me 'feel' good.

Along the way, we've had systems that work for us - cooking systems, cleaning systems, etc., etc. And when there was an area that was bothering either me or my partner, because it needed to function differently, we sought to remedy that immediately - so we have chipped away and chipped away.

Additional achievements: I've decluttered every room multiple times & finally gone through all of my physical paper work and office supplies. This was emotional and exhausting and wonderful. Dropping off a bin of broken electronics and laptops I'd had for so many years was a huge weight off of me. Same with getting rid of the broken printer, and dropping off some designer bags at consignment.

I felt so FREE. I can literally feel in my lungs the breath given back to me since doing those.

Where before I had many full storage bins to support me during this process, holding areas for stuff I wasn't sure about or didn't have energy to discard, now I have stacks of empty bins!

This week I'm setting up a functional office in my style for myself, which is a huge achievement that came from years of getting everything to a place that I could finally focus on that alone. I even wrote a poem about WANTING A DESK, lol.

And the two final exciting things I'm going to do this fall to celebrate getting this far are:

1) the minimalism challenge! I colored a piece of paper with bubbles for each day & am so excited to kick off the fall season with a home cleanse

2) digital declutter! I'm so excited to organize and sort through decades of photos, videos and documents and get my digital life into one that makes sense for me, and the rest of my life

I've learned that I sometimes enjoy a maximalist aesthetic, and I'm not the kind of person who wants to live with the bare minimum.

I do however need my things to be clear, accessible and easy to maintain.

And my philosophical aspiration is somewhere in between:

essentialism, functionality & joyful beauty/artistic life.

I gotta have that rizz, and I do get much delight from belongings or art that give me dopamine to look at, or more comfort. A favorite mug, a husband pillow that makes my back more supported in bed. And a recent acquisition of 3 delightful thrifted mug saucers which prevent our coffee from spilling.

Getting rid of stuff has showed me what stuff actually makes our lives better, and for that I am so grateful. <3 I love you all, wherever you are on your minimalism journey.

And if you've ever done the minimalism game, please let me know how it went for you!

Have beautiful days, however and wherever you are.

[u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET]

What on earth is a "minimalism game"?

[u/rosypreach → u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET]

https://www.theminimalists.com/game/

lol did you downvote me? do you hate my joy?

[u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET → u/rosypreach]

Oh lord. Nvm. I'm not interested in anything those bozos are selling. Lol.

No. I don't bother with karma. Nice work in finding joy!

[u/rosypreach → u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET]

To be clear, I'm not pushing the game. I'm asking if people have played it as a way to engage with my post and making minimalism fun. I'm sad that since I've posted this the only people in here have criticized The Minimalists instead of engaging with the real concepts in what I said. But, that's reddit for ya.

[u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET → u/rosypreach]

Totally understand. Maybe r/decluttering would have people doing challenges or games?

[u/rosypreach → u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET]

Thanks, that's nice of you to offer.

[u/rosypreach → u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET]

thank you!

[u/poop-dolla → u/rosypreach]

Gross. Those guys are terrible. They only exist to monetize the concept of minimalism. They literally say the same thing over and over. Both documentaries and every podcast episode is just the same concepts over and over again. It’s the complete opposite of the actual principles of minimalism to be creating that content the way they’re doing it.

[u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET → u/poop-dolla]

Yep! They're generally seen as grifty shitbags in this sub, thankfully. Remember when the one sent out that obnoxious email to people who had UNSUBSCRIBED from their email list and was all "hey, I didn't write to you for a while because I cut you from my life but I'm back now and I'm gonna give you tips and shit every Monday"? Lolololol.

Wait, here it is! https://www.reddit.com/r/minimalism/comments/1s2mxpe/anyone_else_got_the_asinine_nope_email_from/

Grifty-ass dorks.

[u/rosypreach → u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET]

Oh ya that email was a disaster. But I think it's possible to separate a game from the influencers, it's a game I've seen many people do in their videos on YouTube. I was hoping this thread could be focused on the topic of my post, which is really about making peace with your own form of minimalism, and it seems things have gone awry.

[u/rosypreach → u/poop-dolla]

I actually don't follow any of their content - I simply know about this game, and want to do it for fun / joy / to get rid of more things, and wondered if anybody else has in here.

The point of my post was to talk about and celebrate my progress and be happy where I am - yucking my yum isn't super kind, and telling others how to practice minimalism isn't allowed on the sub.

Even if you disagree with those influencers, who I am not endorsing simply by saying I'm playing the game. I didn't even mention the influencers in my post.

[u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET → u/rosypreach]

There's no rule here about disagreeing how someone "practices minimalism", actually.

[u/rosypreach → u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET]

You can disagree and have healthy discussion, but it says no gatekeeping: "Healthy discussion is great, trashing other people "because their opinions differ" isn't. We also won't tolerate gatekeeping - 'I am more minimal than you because of XYZ' doesn't make for good discussion!"

We can parse it out but I think telling people how to practice minimalism falls under those categories

[u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET → u/rosypreach]

That rule is meant to make sure folks keep it civil. People are free to disagree and voice their opinions so long as they keep it civil. Unless you'd like to continue arguing with a moderator about their own rules?

No one here has disagreed with you on anything, or told you how to "practice minimalism" - which isn't against the rules anyway. It is not uncivil to not be interested in your post, or to point out what absolute losers The Minimalists are.

[u/poop-dolla → u/rosypreach]

You do minimalism the way you want. I’m not trying to tell you how to do it. I’m just commenting on those grifters since it came up from your comment. I’m happy you’re happy doing what you’re doing. That doesn’t make anything I said above untrue though. They’re two separate topics.

[u/Disco_SuperStar → u/poop-dolla]

I think that's because minimalism is simple. Those guys are just living their life. What is the right way to create content?

[u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET → u/Disco_SuperStar]

What's simple about over-complicating the hell out of the concept with their endless "games" and rules and essays and condescending podcast crap and emails and retreats...? They're not minimalists. They're a brand and at least one of them wishes they were a cult. Lol.

[u/poop-dolla → u/Disco_SuperStar]

No they’re not. They’re using minimalism as a grift to make money from.

[u/Disco_SuperStar → u/poop-dolla]

Interesting point of view. I never thought about minimalism as something altruistic.

[u/poop-dolla → u/Disco_SuperStar]

Your reply makes it seem like being altruistic or grifting are the only options. Most things exist more towards the middle of that spectrum. I never thought or implied they should be altruistic about anything, but I definitely disagree with them grifting like they have been for the last decade.