Have you ever heard, mentioned, or thought any of those sentiments?
“I might by no means be a minimalist as a result of I hate fashionable artwork and furnishings.”
“I might by no means be a minimalist as a result of I’ve children, and so they want a ton of stuff.”
“I might by no means be a minimalist as a result of I want all my gear for [name of hobby].”
“I might by no means be a minimalist as a result of our economic system will die if all of us cease procuring.”
These (and different) myths may be stopping you from discovering the readability, peace, time, vitality, and pleasure of minimalism.
What’s the reality?
1. It’s true that the minimalist aesthetic emerged within the 1960’s and featured excessive simplicity, a whole lot of geometric shapes, and a disdain for emotional expression. Artist Frank Stella’s assertion “What you see is what you see” turned the motion’s mantra.
No thanks.
However this isn’t the 1960’s, and a white field with zero consolation and character isn’t what I’m promoting. It’s true that minimalists select to dwell with out unneeded and unloved gadgets, and their possessions are simple to search out and use as a result of every has a spot to belong.
However minimalism is private – you resolve what has worth and what doesn’t.
2. It’s true that you just shouldn’t (or couldn’t) make your home appear like youngsters don’t dwell there if youngsters do. However a minimalist doesn’t wish to conceal that truth. She merely doesn’t need toys to colonize each room in the home or turn out to be a relentless supply of wrestle, stress, and disagreement.
I’ve seen mother and father who purchase their youngsters a brand new toy each week (the identical method they purchase new garments, footwear, equipment, cosmetics, décor, leisure, devices, or one thing for themselves each week).
I’ve additionally seen mother and father who present their children with a couple of open-ended toys (akin to Legos, dolls, and previous garments for dress-up), some books, and loads of entry to the library and the general public park.
With out exception, the second group is extra artistic, higher at sharing and collaborating with different youngsters, and fewer whiny and demanding.
It’s true that youngsters want toys and garments and different gear, however limits encourage creativeness and protect your sanity.
3. It’s true that hobbies like woodworking, residence brewing, stitching, and baking can take a whole lot of gear and supplies. In the event you want or wish to dwell in a reasonably small house it may be onerous to search out room for a piano or an easel and portray provides.
However minimalism is about eradicating the stuff you don’t want or need with the intention to make time and house for the stuff you worth. In the event you care about restoring an previous automotive or making a setup for mannequin trains, you possibly can nonetheless do both of these issues as a minimalist.
The issue comes once you make the leap from “I can’t be a minimalist as a result of I like my books an excessive amount of” to “I’m not a minimalist, so it’s high-quality if I dangle on to all of this muddle I don’t want or use,” and even “I’m not a minimalist, so I can hold shopping for and consuming no matter I would like each time I would like it.”
It’s true that you just don’t need to let your love for a passion hold you from eliminating the issues which can be clogging your property and calendar.
4. It’s true that if all of us stopped consuming our economic system would die. However we’re alive, so we’ll at all times must devour. We have to eat, we’d like shelter, we’d like clothes, transportation, training, and medical care. We want haircuts, tech help, and individuals who know the best way to construct and restore issues. We’ll at all times must buy items and companies.
People must be artistic, so we’ll additionally proceed to buy gadgets and experiences that transcend our primary wants.
However Huge Enterprise and our hyper-capitalist society promote the lie that we’d like much more:
• It’s not sufficient to have a automotive – we have to improve that automotive each couple of years.
• It’s not sufficient to have a cellphone – we have to improve that cellphone each time a more recent mannequin seems.
• It’s not sufficient to have a home – we have to continually improve and upsize our housing.
• It’s not sufficient to have clothes – we have to comply with traits that change each few months.
Over-consumption is the secret, and we’ve been advised it’s “patriotic.”
What’s true is that there are many methods to inject cash into the economic system with out shopping for one thing we don’t want. Give to a non-profit group, and your cash enters the economic system when the hungry are fed, the poor are housed, the oppressed are represented, and other people’s our bodies and spirits are uplifted by medical analysis or the humanities. Save or make investments, and your cash strengthens the economic system when entrepreneurs borrow capital to begin a enterprise or develop a product or concept.
Backside line – Huge Enterprise cares about their earnings, interval. They wish to make you discontented, not completely happy.
Fashionable life is sophisticated, hectic, and nonstop. Most of us are too far in debt or too afraid of lacking out to cease and take note of something outdoors of the established order.
Don’t fall for the myths – we might all do with a little bit of minimalism.
Concerning the Writer: Karen Trefzger is a author, singer, instructor, spouse, mom, and grandmother who has been selecting a less complicated life for over 20 years. She is the writer of a number of books about minimalism, and blogs at Maximum Gratitude Minimal Stuff.
