Yes , yes , yes and yes. I absolutely believe in minimalism. I heard some minimalist youtuber say that ” Anything that is popular is stupid”.- (I think it was Gabe Bult). I try and think about that quote all the time. This quote fits perfectly into the world of minimilism.
Regular , Maximalist Aussie Life
I live in Australia and I know that minimalism is not the norm here. The average aussie is drowning in unused , expensive stuff. It’s popular to have a dedicated junk room (76% aussies do) , have 100+ clothes in your wardrobe and have 6+ internet-connected devices.
According to a 2017 National Storage survey , 24% of australians. measures their success by the things they own. 40% of australians feel the need to make money and be successful. But what you making the money for? To buy more useful shit that’s just going to collect dust , affect your peace and your wallet?
Maximalism is popular. Whatever is popular is dumb. Doing what’s popular makes you average. Embrace minimalism and your weird side.
There are a bunch of websites that can give you 100+ different benefits for embracing minamilism. There are very few reasons for buying more.
My Thoughts On The Average Mordern Life For Young Australians
I think maximalism is popular because the world is obbssessed with consuming. Our consumption to creation ratio is disappropionate and I think is the reason why 66% of aussie adults are overweight , spend on average 5.5hrs on recreational screentime (scrolling takes up average 2hrs and streaming TV / movies takes up on average 3hrs) and 22% of GenZ males are online gaming daily averaging of 4hrs a day.
(If you are concerned about your screentime , please use this screentime calculator to improve your health and wellbeing).
Australia is a high consumption society. Consumption isn’t a bad thing until it’s abused and taken out of moderation. You see , a gardener would sow tomato seeds , water their seeds , uses decent soil , compost , sunshine and time to grow and nuture a bearing tomato plant. Then after he can grab his red , vibrant , juicy tomatos , cut them and cook them in his pasta and throw them in his salad. The gardening part of this is equation is active creation and eating the tomatoes is active consumption. Creation and active consumption is unpopular. Passive , mind-numbing consumption is what’s hot in mordern society.
When you’re reading about how screentime use is negative – it’s almost always talking about passive consumption.Science has nothing to say to messaging your friends and family , researching on your hobbies , using digital devices to make money or study and tech usage for creating (like digital art for example).
Scrolling mindlessly on instagram reels because you’re bored and had a hard day at work isn’t a properly resting yourself. Anyone who tells you that it’s okay to spend time on passive consumption is either another influencer that is pushing their narrative of going on social media is fine so you can consume their content and make them rich or is somebody else who doesn’t want you to be the best version of yourself. Or maybe you think passive consumption is a good way to rest and have fun when you’ve got free time. Ok then , tell me what you learnt about the 3rd instagram reel you saw 2 weeks ago , what happens in Euphoria Season 2 Episode 3 at the 29:07 timestamp , what valuable information you’ve learnt from your MrBeast marathon?
Statisfaction
Humans feel more statisifed when creating / making / building something meaninful because of the effort used in the creating process. According to Authur C. Brooks , the famous academic and author specialising in the scientific study of human happiness says statisfaction is one of the three macronutrients of happiness in life. The two other macronutrients are enjoyment and meaning. Not constant digital hedonic pleasure , money obbession, eating piza and cookies or sleeping with as many hot people as possible.
Minamilism is not only about having less. That definition is true but I feel that the definition for essentialism holds the essence of minamilism. Essentialism is doing less and having less so you can have more and do more in life , popularised by the book with the same title “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown.
Less meetings , less bullshit social events and more delegation means doing more of the stuff at work that you love and are good at and less of things that you suck at or hate doing.
At home , this is manifests as having a smaller wadrobe but it’s full of things that you love and wear all the time. At the moment ,I have very undecluttered closet and I notice I don’t wear every piece of clothing in my wardobe equally. The 80/20 pareto principle heavily applies to my closet.
So to embrace minamilism – don’t declutter your entire home , schedule or work tasks. Tackle one thing at time. If you notice your house is drowning in dusty junk that you never use – either use Facebook marketplace or donate that thing a way.
If you notice your work is tiring you out , your saying yes to too many weddings , baby showers , drinking nights and they make you feel awful or would’ve rather not went – its ok to eliminate or dramatically reduce attending those events.
You notice your screentime makes excuses for not finishing your to-do list , going to the gym , ect – start tracking your screentime to identify the total time used , activities done and most used apps and then start agressively cutting down from those high-usage apps or – if you’re extreme like me cut back down to tech used only for essentials and work.
Entertainment can be found in the real world by getting back to creating , making or doing something meaningful , mind-expanding , fun or fascinating to you. Examples can be finding your favourite form of excercise like ballet , mat pilates , indoor rock climbing (bouldering) , gymnastics , surfing ,baseball , tennis , badmintion , long distance running , sprinting , lifting weights , cross-fit , swimming and ect.
Value-driven Minimalism Wins
Minimalism means getting rid of anything that doesn’t align to your values or serves you. If you value gratitude , minimilism pushes you to set a no-buy month goal and a daily habit of writing down 3 things you’re grateful for. If you value wealth , minimilism says to you set automatic investing on your phone’s investment app so you can invest $1000 a month to future you and never have to remember it and it’s one less thing on your plate.
If you value honesty , minimimalism says cut back on those dishonest , fluffy , concealing words so the truth can shine through. If health is one of your values , minimalism encourages you to see what keeps you sedentary , overeating , sleeping worse and less and tells you to eliminate those bad health habits by gradual elimination so there’s room for those better habits.
At the end of the day , minimalism is a healthy tool and philosphy. Use your minimalist hammer to hammer away at useless junk so you can have more money back in you pocket , more time you can spend however you want , more peace and less stress.
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