Everything is Simple
Glad to see a few fellow minimalists popping up on this platform. I'm not surprised, of course. This is the only writing platform I've found – and I've done some serious searching – that truly leaves me the hell alone, both in a privacy sense and in a not building useless features sense.
While going through old journals/notes to find interesting travel stories to share I'm finding a ton of old scribbles, realizations, and ponderings. This one in particular sums up why I choose to live as a minimalist:
“The messier the mind, the cleaner the space.”
I guess what I was trying to say was, the busier things are in my head the more I need my surroundings to be un-busy. Sometimes (usually) things in my head are very busy, indeed.
Lots of friends and family think I'm too radical in my desire for sparse surroundings. It's put me at odds with roommates, friends, and even my spouse. Like everything, I know it's me who's the weirdo. I should want lots of stuff and shouldn't complain when I have to trip over it, clean it, maintain it, and eventually dispose of it.
I guess I am radical.
There have been a few times when I've felt downright rage when I saw clutter – I actually got angry at the inanimate objects. I wanted to kill them for being in my presence. Ha! This really does sound like madness now that I write about it.
True minimalism, for me, doesn't end at “stuff”. I like applying it to all aspects of my life, such as my philosophies, the people I spend time with, the ideas I let influence me, etc.
I don't believe there's such a thing as too much education or learning, but there is such a thing as too much information, if that makes any sense.
For example, how many books do we really need to read about weight loss? Once you understand how your body works (education) it really is as simple as eating less. (Perhaps, for some, also moving more.) That's it.
And how many books do we really need on productivity, for God's sake? Seriously, if you're an artist, writer, musician, etc. all you need to do to be more productive is limit your inputs (entertainment/distraction) and ramp up your outputs. Kind of like weight loss. I promise you, if you allow yourself to get bored enough, you'll be all kinds of productive. It's absolutely, positively no more complicated than this.
(If you really think you need books on productivity, fine. Go get yourself a copy of The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, read it in a day, and then go live it. It's the last book you'll ever need.)
I could write a million more words on minimalism, but I won't. Don't want to ruin the spirit of this article. :D