Let’s Talk About Minimalism

Alright kiddos, today I’d like to talk a little bit about minimalism. Even writing the word makes me cringe a little bit, mostly out of guilt I suppose. A year ago, if someone told me to check out minimalism I would probably give ‘em one of these…

So I’d understand if you were put off by the title, but please hang with me for just a bit.

Before I continue too far with this blog, let me get one thing clear. I’m nowhere near perfect. I’m wasteful and materialistic. I’m just going to come out and admit it because I don’t want to bullshit anyone. The purpose of Pasture is to make it easier for the common person to live a more thoughtful life in regards to our planet. I’m a common man, but I’m trying to get better. I hope you enjoy what I have to say, and I hope it can help you become a little bit more thoughtful too.

I’ve always heard people say “less is more”. And honestly, when I heard that I moved on in my head before responding verbally. I have always felt a weird attachment to every item I own. I’m no psychologist, but my guess is it has something to do with being raised with 6 other siblings in a medium to low-income family.

Nothing was ever mine. My clothes were always hand-me-downs. My brothers and I typically had to share every toy we owned. So when I saved up enough money to buy my very first Xbox, you might understand why I carried that thing around everywhere. I found an old duffel bag, and took it with me like it was an appendage of myself. Looking back on that time now, I think I can explain that habit pretty simply. I was attached to my Xbox because it was the only thing I owned.

How the times have changed. As a 27 year old, I don’t have a ton of money, but I have enough to buy things. Before I started on this journey to simplify my life, I had an excess of clothes, furniture, dog toys, you name it. Oh, and an Xbox. A slightly newer version than the one I had as a kiddo. It got to the point where I had so many things, I was starting to lose track of them.

Doesn’t it seem like this always gets worse around the holiday season? Your mom gives me a couple of shirts. You might get a couple more from a sibling. The next thing you know it’s January 1st and you basically have a new wardrobe.

For most of us, there is just so much… stuff. In my own life I think that new Xbox is a microcosm of my materialism as a whole. I didn’t give two shits about it. When I really started to think about that is when I realized there was something wrong.

I didn’t love my things because I had too much to keep track of. What’s worse… I started to feel a sense of despise for some of those things. That may sound ridiculous, but let me explain a little bit.

That new Xbox, for example; I’d come home every day and see it there, set underneath my TV just staring back at me. I couldn’t play it though because, of course, I had other things to do. Walk the dog, make dinner, clean the dishes, check in on the latest basketball scores, read a book. By the time that was done, I was getting ready for bed and had entirely forgotten about the Xbox waiting underneath the TV like a neglected child. The next day I would go to work per usual, come back home and see it there looking back at me… for about the 1000th day in a row the cycle continued.

Eventually, I’d start to feel guilty about purchasing an item that I never used. Next, I’d get pissed that I wasted money on it because I was obviously never going to use it. Pretty soon those feelings became associated with the item itself. I was directing all of those negative feelings toward the item, and every time I’d see it, those feelings would consume some part of me. At that point, I knew I had too many things, but I didn’t really know what to do about it.

Then I watched a documentary about minimalism, and that sparked my interest a little bit. Then I read a separate blog post by the folks at No Sidebar and I was willing to give this thing a shot.

In this blog post they lay out the case for minimalism pretty well. I think the biggest misconception about minimalism is that it’s all-or-nothing. Most people might assume that you have to give up all of your nice things and go live in a tiny home in order to achieve that lifestyle. They would have you believing that you have to give up your iPhone and go off the grid. Wrong. It’s more of a mindset.

The only way I was able to start minimizing is by taking baby steps. And I could still get a whole lot better.

I started by getting rid of a lot of clothes. I’m the type of person who has a few favorite clothing items, and the rest will just sit in my closet. I had a gym shirt that’s way to big for me. I knew I should pitch it, but I’d see it and think “Someday I might get jacked and look really nice in that. Then I’ll be glad I kept it”. Now I’m realizing that I shouldn’t keep waiting for that day. Looking at those clothes makes me think of what I’m not. Each sparsely-used clothing item in my closet has it’s own story, and would be used on that special day too. I was kind of delusional.

So I’ve been limiting my clothes significantly. As a result, I’m finding it much easier to get dressed in the mornings. When you have 100 shirts, it’s tough to decide which one to wear that day. What’s even better is that I love the few items that I have. Every night before I go to bed I make sure to hang up the clothes that I’d used that day, or wash them if necessary. That might not sound impressive to most of you, but if you knew me before you’re mind is probably blown right now. It’s because I value my items more.

I think the issue of our materialism stems from media and advertisements. Everywhere you go you see an ad, and you probably don’t even realize it most of the time. These ads are telling you that, to be normal, you need to buy this or that. If you want to fit in, you’ve got to buy the latest iPhone. You have to have a new clothing for every new season. When the advertisements get to us, we become more wasteful. that’s what I’d like to prevent.

But, what exactly is materialism? Well the definition goes like this, “a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values”. Which is kind of odd if you ask me. When we have a bunch of shit, we tend to care less about the individual items. So by definition, when you’re materialistic you tend to care less about the material. When you start to minimize the things in your life, you’ll actually feel a greater affinity for the material items. So if anything, we might need to become more materialistic by valuing every little thing we own.

I’ve started to make a point about really evaluating something before I buy it. I’d much rather have one really good jacket than four mediocre ones that I rarely use. If you do that, I promise you’ll start enjoying your things more and you’ll feel more at peace.

I’ve started to do this with other things too, not just clothes. One couch, one bed, one nice piece of art on the wall that I enjoy looking at.

By doing this, it not only brings me clarity and happiness, it saves money. If that’s not a big enough reason to be minimal, I don’t know what is.

The other reason I wanted to talk about minimalism is because it puts you in position to value the planet. If you have one water bottle, you’re going to start taking that thing everywhere. You don’t need to get a plastic cup at a restaurant. Just fill that glass bottle up and chug away. You might start to use a re-usable napkin instead of the paper ones. Hell, you might feel fancy and get your very own reusable straw.

The possibilities are endless. So, that’s what I’m doing. I’m only a few weeks into this process, but I’ll be sure to keep ya’ll posted with my progress.

Planet over profit,

-Jake

ps. I have an Xbox for sale if you know of anyone in the market.