Can You Live Minimally?
If you have a Netflix account, chances are you’ve already seen the show Tidying with Marie Kondo which features the queen of organizing and minimalism herself.
Her cute-as-a-button charm, coupled with her anti-Western take on how to organize your life, has swept the world and millions of changed lives have attributed their newfound freedom from her KonMari method.
Sounds too philosophical? Well, on some levels, it is. It’s because what Marie Kondo is teaching goes beyond having an aesthetically pleasing house or neatly stacked items of clothing.
It’s about choosing to live a life that has more meaning by doing less. It’s about gaining more by consuming less.
A less is more lifestyle that lets you live with more freedom and fewer constraints.
So the question is: can you live minimally?
Historically, Singaporean locals have a minimalist approach in their daily living. We only buy what we need, eat what is healthy, wear what is necessary, go to places that we need to, and be with people that are important to us.
And while this hasn’t really drastically changed, we have to admit that global influence is at a high level. Our exposure to other cultures, especially more Western ones, definitely has an impact on our society.
But we can’t entirely blame our need to consume on our Western neighbors. We have an inherent need to eat, move, act and interact. But somehow, at the turn of the century, this need to consume has been amplified to a magnitude that is now becoming disastrous for our planet.
Overconsumption is also the culprit that is responsible for moral decay. We don’t only consume resources. We consume information or content. And anything is excessive is never good.
That is why the call to live a minimal lifestyle is louder than ever. The need to scale back is growing at an alarming pace. If we don’t slow down, we will be responsible for our own demise, and the future generations after us will suffer the consequences that they had nothing to do with.
Committing to living minimally doesn’t mean that you will go cold turkey and drop everything you’re doing now or abandon anything you have (although I do know a lot of people who have done so and were successful in maintaining it).
I am simply referring to little ways that you can start opting to minimize rather than overconsume. Here are three doable ways that you can apply right this minute.
Commit to Buying Fewer Clothes for 2019 — Or None at All!
Did you know that textile waste has increased exponentially in the past ten years? What’s sad is that all of these go to our landfills, and we are all guilty contributors.
One of the most popular resolutions for 2019 is to do less shopping, but for a different reason. People want to save on money. And while that’s a good enough reason to stay motivated in avoiding those pesky mall sales, let’s reinforce a more compelling one: lessening textile waste.
How many shirts do you need anyway? How many jeans? How many shoes? Don’t you know that you will not only save money but time as well when you stop buying clothes? Owning fewer clothes means you have fewer options to choose from, which means you don’t have to spend so much time thinking about what to wear or on washing, ironing, folding and organizing them.
Having fewer clothes means you need a smaller space to keep them. This will then give you extra space to use for something more productive, like a home office or an area to do your yoga home workout.
Choose to Eat Less and More Healthily
You may feel like this is a tip that is always present in different types of lists and topics. But I chose to emphasize it here because most of us are unaware of how overconsumption of our natural food resources is causing a devastating imbalance in our ecosystem.
Pretty soon, all we will be eating are artificial or genetically engineered food. And that’s not good. Our bodies aren’t supposed to be ingesting so much unnatural elements and substances. But because the food supply is getting scarce and a great portion of the world’s population are experiencing starvation, researchers are forced to be creative in coming up with natural food alternatives.
So if you love yourself, the next generation, and our planet, then commit to consuming less food. Ask yourself if you really need that extra chicken wing, or if you must have two cups of rice and then end up just downing one and a half.
Food waste is one of the most hurtful and hateful wastage. The farmer’s efforts in gathering those produce are wasted; the gas emitted to deliver those products in the marketplace is wasted, and the cook’s effort to bring such a delicious meal right at your table is wasted as well.
So the next time you are ordering, be more conscientious and think about the process I just painstakingly recounted. For sure you wouldn’t want to consume so much food after thinking about that.
Filter the Content You are Consuming
By now we all know this to be true: not everything on the Internet is beneficial.
The internet is a thing of beauty. A technological masterpiece. A beacon of hope that will usher us into the next millennium. Unfortunately, it is also what’s being used to help publish and circulate some of the silliest and most useless content out there.
Videos of cats and dogs are cute and all, but it doesn’t mean that you need a 24/7 update. You can appreciate sports, but there isn’t any point in obsessing over it. And don’t get me started on these silly internet challenges and YouTube pranks. Those are content that you can definitely live without.
Instead, focus on content and information that can enrich you. What’s great about the content that’s available nowadays is that they are highly informative and educational without boring you to death.
Be intentional with the content that you consume. Don’t waste so much time mooning over Hollywood, Bollywood or KPop stars. It’s alright to admire, but don’t obsess.
Read up on current events. Try to enrol in courses that will develop you and your skills. Surround yourself with data and content that will elevate your level of thinking.
Spend less time on social media. Try to stay disconnected. Unplug for a bit. I can assure you that you will find this very rewarding and satisfying.
Many people realized that the reason why they went minimalist is because they didn’t want to rely on material things to make me happy and satisfied. They do not allow themselves to find fulfillment from artificial things.
Instead, they focus on human interactions, life experiences, and moments spent with the people they love. For this reason alone, you will really find the strength and willpower to successfully live minimally.
