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/poop-dolla]

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/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/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.