Minimalism

[secret_no_03 959]

Minimalism has become a bit of a trend in the United States with the rise of Marie Kondo's Netflix series about helping Americans tidy up their homes, several years after she took off in Japan with her two books and Fumio Sasaki's hit book Goodbye Things as well as the Minimalists documentary on Netflix as well. I've watched Marie's shows, watched the documentary, listened to the audio book and read Goodbye Things as well as the two Minimalists books, their podcast, Matt D'Avella' s YouTube channel and podcast (he directed the minimalist documentary and their sequel that's coming out next year.) as well as several Japanese youtubers like Shibu, Takeru, SHOPPIN, MIYOSHI and more.

 

Along the way I've gotten rid of hundreds of DVDs, CDs, at least fifty items of clothing, a few game consoles and all kinds of games and more and I've begun to read a lot more, listen to a lot more podcasts, movies and other things that I used to not have the patience for, so I suppose you could say to take a phrase from Jordan Peterson, I "cleaned my room" and my mind cleaned up with it. It makes sense because it's a proven fact that clutter can make you depressed, and over the course of several months my girlfriend and I have gotten rid of plenty of things we don't need, constructed a whole new cleaning routine and are enjoying each other's company and appreciating it more. I still have hiccups from time to time, but I haven't purchased a video game in probably six months, only splurged once on CDs, but I have had a few impulse buys; but it's a process. Over time I've also learned that you don't have to throw everything away because the point is to get rid of what doesn't have any meaning or value to life and replacing it with things you actually care about and bring joy and meaning to your life. Minimalism isn't the solution, it's a game plan and a template to becoming a happier, more fulfilled, and content version of yourself. Minimalist isn't your identity, just like your objects are not your identity either. The whole point is to find out who you really are when things are stripped bare and you remove all of these things that you THINK make you who you are. 😊

 

-I've attached a talk that Fumio Sasaki did for the New York City Japan Society in 2017 where he talked about his journey and his book.

 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2019 by secret_no_03

[secret_no_03 959]

 

 

[secret_no_03 959]

 

 

[Desqui 48]

I've never successfully reached "minimalism" but I've read and watched almost all of it. I've been in the purge state for the last few years. I always thought it was my closet that needed reworking but that proved the easiest to minimize. 

Even before the minimalism trend though I think I started off with a more death cleaning concept (or... suicide cleaning... if you're ok getting dark) and I found a book on that even in the library focusing on old folks not placing a burden on their loved ones after they pass. 

These days I want to spend more time doing other things than worrying about all my stuff - and I'm worrying about getting rid of it! Like "if I just lost X lbs my life would be better" kind of thinking is what minimalism is to me, and I think because of that I can't complete it. I think it's a lie. Or I don't want to die. Or I don't want to live. Something like that.

[Rahzel 110]

Thanks for this interesting topic!

Hmm... my input on minimalism is sort of really simple (it begins with "if you didn't have the money to begin with" and ends with "you wouldn't need such theories ???") but throughout the years I've been driven to the notion of ethical consumerism or conscious consumerism. I don't really do what I can't do -  some rich lolita lady once came up to me like "nOoOo way you have so many pieces of clothing!! Because Marie Kondo said you should have xx tops!!" and honestly I just scratched my head at the notion that I could have any less - I mean I work and cosplay so it's not like working in a lolita skirt or dressing like Aerith on the beach is an option. Also, gotta buy things when I see them being sold for cheap. - but for what I can do, I sure will ; trying to donate my clothes before they get too old, buying (mostly secondhand) good quality clothes, reselling old products, reducing litter (which in itself makes you thing twice before buying something - "can I dispose of it cleanly too?" ) sticking to vegan and environment-responsible cosmetics/clothes (food is sort of too extreme for me as I don't live alone and am a picky eater but for anything else? sure go vegan.) and am now trying to switch to purchasing digital releases whenever I can etc. There are practical reasons for that surely - living in a house by the sea means suffering with mold, rust and allergies not to mention termites as of late ... - but guess I learned something from that urgency to clean up 🙂

Edited August 22, 2020 by Chell