How Minimalism Can Save You, Literally
By: The Essentialist
Tags: Minimalism, Lifestyle, Self Improvement, Habits, Productivity

What if I tell you that you can get over your anxiety not by taking medicines but by regularly declutter your closet? You might call me insane, but what if it’s true. What if the problem we are facing in our lives right now and what we usually face is a result of nothing but the ignored habit of loading ourselves with a plethora of stuff? More than we will ever use, and certainly more than we need.

THE FLAWED CONCLUSION OF YOUR DAILY PROBLEM

Photo by Nick de Partee on Unsplash

Let’s imagine. You are struggling to choose a good formal shirt from your wardrobe that will match the black trouser you just decided you will wear for the Interview.

“The light colour will be good, but which one? Will the white make me look like a Waiter? Let’s go with pink then. But wait, ain’t that the one I wore last time? How about yellow? No matching socks for it. Okay, light blue then, but wouldn’t that look too dull? You know what, the blue will look better with the navy blue trouser. But I just decided I’ll wear black. Wait, I don’t have any shoes matching the blue pair. God! I don’t even have a good formal to wear, I will definitely buy one today. Oh shit! I am late. ehhh!!!…

hopetocope.com

Now I know not everyone will relate to this scenario, but you can certainly find yourself in a similar situation where we are struggling to make a timely decision because we can make more than one choices and while imagining all the permutations and combinations, we realise we have wasted a lot of time. The inability to make good choices because we have provided ourselves with a lot of them is nothing new. Matter of fact, it is the most prominent cause of anxiety in the millennial lifestyle. We look for the reasons outside, inside every other thing, everything but ourselves.

Nowadays, you are no longer stressed because you don’t have any clothes to wear, or because you don’t have the gadget to communicate or because you are incapable to buy the two. You are stressed because you have too many and you’re unable to find the appropriate one that will suit you for the occasion; because the gadget you have is not the latest one although fundamentally it will perform the same function; because you are unable, not to buy but to prioritise. And after this self-orchestrated chaos, you make the poorest conclusion of them all. You decide that the solution to this problem is to get rid of such situation in the future by providing ourselves with what we were lacking.

Here is the slap of reality. How about some Common sense? Because if this is your solution, you are certainly lacking some.

youtube.com/MattD’avella

I haven’t heard the term minimalism before watching Matt D’Avella’s videos. He is a filmmaker, director of two Netflix documentaries (one upcoming), a content creator on Youtube and a Minimalist. Initially, I started calling myself a ‘Minimalist’ without realising the true meaning of it, because it sounds different and catchy, plus it was suiting my Twitter bio. But following him for a while, listening to his experience and the people he talked to helped me get to know about this amazing community where people are living this lifestyle and teaching that to feel more content, happy and lively, you don’t actually need more, you need the opposite.

The ‘In case of Emergency’ effect

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Alright! Confession time.

How many times did you purchased something thinking that you might not use it daily but in case an emergency occurs, if this or that happens? Or worse, how many times have you made the deliberate choice to buy thinking, I will use the product someday. Greg Mckeown talked about something similar in his book ESSENTIALISM, The Broadest Criteria, in which your brain figure out the widest outcome where you will need this thing, regardless of the probability of that event.

The result: You have more than you need, to a point where you are oblivion of the fact that you already had something similar, something you bought with the exact same mindset.

With having more than we require, you not only start losing respect for the excess items, but you also stop feeling grateful for what you have. You think you are compelled to convince yourself that it is okay. IT IS NOT OKAY.

The Imaginary Challenge

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We are in this delusion that we have a competition with the society we live with in terms of standards. and as a consequence, we constantly challenge ourselves, to match the benchmarks set by others believing that we will be left behind otherwise in an imaginary race where everyone is running to get nowhere. And with no time you find yourself living your entire day on these terms. The Worse Part: Now you no longer need the Society to Challenge you. Now you are Challenging yourself. It is like brainwashing. Now you will do the same with some stranger you met.

Welcome to the Indirect Loop of Self-Orchestrated Anxiety

Well, here you are in this eternal loop you wanted to be a part of but you still are. And now that you are a part of it, you must live by the rules, you must shut your inner voice of consciousness which is telling you to get out of there, you must follow the strict guidelines of Comparing yourselves, your lifestyle, your furniture, and your dog to others. Because failing to do that will be a scar to your ego, you must follow what everyone else is doing. Now you are a rat.

The meaning of Minimalism

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A Minimalist is not someone who throws away everything he has and start living the life of a saint or a monk. Minimalism is a mindset, the idea that kicks in when you darken the often ignored thin line between need and desire. It’s the philosophy that Steve Jobs believed in, the Zen culture talks about it, Stoicism too resonates with it. And if you are considering my opinion, it is more beautiful.

And let me say this straight.

“Miser is not the Synonym of Minimalism.”

That’s my personal quote. It was important to point that out because the general perception about Minimalism is wrong. Just because you are spending less and have less than what others in “The Society” have, you are labelled either broke or a Miser. It’s the black and White Society has created and according to it, there can not be any grey.

Minimalism is not some philosophy that people adopt in order to save more during a pandemic situation like we are experiencing now. Minimalism is an attitude, a lifestyle that you adopt when you realise this enough times that you don’t actually need the things you were feeling so compelled to buy. Minimalism is not just limited to cleaning your home, digital decluttering and having a wall with no painting on it. As I said, it’s an attitude, where you make Conscious choices by listening to yourself and you realise that personal satisfaction never gives a f**k about the quantity or the variety.

THE 40-YEAR-OLD YOU WILL THANK YOU

theconversation.com

If Time Machine ever build and if you will be rich enough to afford it, you might come back the day you decided to be more conscious about living a happy life and thank yourself.

Don’t get the wrong message here. I am not telling you to become a minimalist from this second, throw away your stuff and watch every video of ‘The Minimalists’. All I am telling you to do is, see yourself, listen to yourself, ask yourself, remain honest and I am sure you will make better decisions.

In simple words, if you had one shirt that day or similar shirts, you would have worn that and focused more on how you present yourselves during the Interview than on something secondary. Human beings have this tendency to give excessive importance to trivial things. We better get out of the loop now and start living and life with more life in it than items.