Cherish The Essentials

Irfan Yang
Sep 1, 2018 · 5 min read

What you should never get rid of while Minimizing

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Say you’ve committed to Minimizing — Great!

Now that you’re here, there’s a few tips I should share for not accidentally throwing everything outright.

While it’s good to be in the mindset of throwing away stuff, it is still called ‘Minimalism’ for a reason i.e. you’re still keeping bare essentials.

To get an idea of the difference between someone who lives with the essentials versus someone who rejects everything outright, we need to visit Ancient Greece.

Diogenes, The OG Cynic

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Now, to get something out of the way, I believe there’s a misconception on the word “Cynic”.

It’s come to mean ‘someone who rejects everything’, which while not entirely incorrect needs some context to be accurate.

These days, we call someone who doesn’t believe anything good will happen ‘cynical’, when in fact it refers to a rejection of all societal norms and customs in favour of living simply.

To understand more of what a philosophical Cynic was, we need to know the man whom that term is largely attributed as originating.

Diogenes, the original (philosophical) Cynic, was famous for living simply, although I think it’s an extreme version of what we can call our modern concept of Minimalism.

He wasn’t kidding either: he lived in a wine barrel in the market, wearing only rags and ate onions, at times even doing things I’ll leave out for sake of taste.

The most generous definition of such a person would be ‘Ascetic’; the least would be ‘Bum’.

Even if we were to call him a bum, it takes someone special to make a virtue of it, with an entire school of philosophy to his name.

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The point is that while Diogenes was extreme, there is a lot that his Cynical philosophy can lend to minimizing our lives.

For a start, he didn’t dwell in any old backwater; he “lived” in Athens, which we all know was the foremost capital of the Greek world.

That’s the equivalent of New York or London, which like now was full of the trappings of material wealth and status.

Living in contrast to that materialist backdrop, he was undoubtedly out to make a statement, and became famous along the way.

It’s not like he didn’t have his admirers, either; Alexander the Great was said to have visited him, only to be asked to stay out of his sunlight.

The line we can all take away from Diogenes of Sinope is:

“Humans have complicated every gift of the Gods.”

Essentials of Minimizing

While I’m not stopping you from living like Diogenes, I’m here to promote Minimizing and not Cynicism.

That being said, we can learn from either school of thought.

There are a few things that you should probably not get rid of or skint on if you’re attempting to minimize.

One of the misconceptions of Minimalism is that ‘they are just broke’ since people link a lack of items to a lack of cash; no doubt a byproduct of the materialist conditioning we’ve been taught.

I myself was then surprised to learn that Minimalists tended to spend a lot on the items they do have; a pricey yet plain-looking table that’s made of oak, for example.

No coincidence either that lots of Minimalists use Apple products because of the minimal aesthetic and utilitarian function.

Neither oak furniture nor Apple products are considered inexpensive.

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It becomes apparent that the preference is spending less time on lots of lackluster products in favour of the least amount of items that work well and last long; Quality over Quantity.

That is why Minimalists make it a point to clean and maintain their belongings regularly, yet another benefit to minimizing.

I’d say the most important word to remember here is just that: Cherish.

When you get rid of all your mugs save one, suddenly the value of that one mug has increased exponentially — you’d have nothing to drink from otherwise.

Here are some other items that you should invest in:

  1. Toothbrush
  2. A Good Mattress
  3. Formal Wear
  4. Lighting
  5. Scents Devices
  6. Smartphone
  7. Computer / Laptop / Surface
  8. An Ergonomic Chair
  9. Wardrobe / Closet
  10. Comfortable Work Surface (Desk)
  11. (Ladies) Personal Daily Effects — Makeup, Hairbrush etc.
  12. Utensils, Bowls, Plates, Mugs
  13. Grooming Implements
  14. Deodorant and Cologne/ Perfume
  15. Towels

Minimizing is also about enhancing value of the items we usually take for granted; one mug, one fork, one bowl, etc.

That appreciation of the finite realigns your world perspective, and that of your relationships.


That One Chair

Have you ever noticed that young folks can make do with whatever chair they find, while older folks tend to want to sit on only one specific chair?

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There’s a Japanese company called PlusMinusZero whose design principle is based on a design ratio that is ‘just right’.

They’d noticed too that older folks tend to favour certain pieces of furniture over others.

Ultimately, what was derived from that research was due to the roundness of the wooden edges that was comfortable to their older frames.

They distilled that this roundness was like a golden number that was pleasing to humans in general, and have since used that roundness number across their product range.

Quite a story, no?

In summary, Minimizing is about finding your own golden ratio of what you need to live while being happy with what you cherish.

And who knows, we may become our own philosophers one day.

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