Minimalism is a Culture
I was just finishing a book last week, Grit: the power of passion and perseverance by Angela Duckworth and came across its definition of culture which made me realise minimalism is right for me and why I have recently started writing about it and reaching out to others who also identify with this culture.
Whether we realize it or not, the culture in which we live, and with which we identify, powerfully shapes just about every aspect of our being.
Whilst the author goes on to describe the culture of those who have grit and work on their grit to achieve success, for me I was identifying with minimalism and how it was already shaping my being. I was by this point of reading this book already about a month into minimalism and mostly decluttering the physical mess around me, throwing away waste, donating unwanted clothes and able to find better uses for things previously left covered in dust.
But the real revelation for me as I continued to immerse myself in the minimalism culture and researching more about how the lifestyle minimalism offered could help my growth and development I noticed my mind was also becoming clearer, I was focusing. I started to get things done, finally replacing the broken cooker, planting more vegetables in our garden, reading more books, booking the plane tickets for my sister’s wedding in September and playing more with my baby son. I had become more productive I guess.
As I became more focused and managing to get things done I noticed I gained some more time and that time was spent on exploring more about minimalism and how else I could use minimalism to empower myself to make further beneficial changes and this led to in a sense stalking the popular minimalists across the web, The Minimalists (Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus), Colin Wright, Matt D’Avella, Joshua Becker, Leo Babauta, Courtney Carver and Famio Sasaki but to name a few.
I had learnt so much in such a short spell of time and how minimalism could (self) help me as I strived to be unstuck from the status quo and stop wasting my life away. I learned to focus on the present and life for the moment by living simply cutting out all the noise and distractions from modern technology, my phone notifies me of incoming phone calls only and nothing else, our TV is off 23 and half hours a day, unsubrcirbed to newsletters and emails and more engagement with my wife and children.
It is from the shared experiences of these people and many others that have helped me in so many ways and it is encouraging because this is only the beginning for me. Their sharing of do’s and don’ts have helped me and I hope my stories, posts or articles can help others because as Angela Duckworth continued in her book:
At its core, a culture is defined by the shared norms and values of a group of people.
Though it may be daunting to step away from the norms that society has placed upon us by the sheer volume of shameless advertising implying how we should define our lives. But to just take a step back and deliberately evaluate your values you will find that a minimalistic life filled only of what is essential can be more fulfilling and rewarding that the many luxury status symbols required to showcase our “success”.
The next project I would like to tackle with minimalism is a minimalistic life with kids! Please comment and share any advice and experiences, I would love to hear from you!
