I couldn’t have seen this documentary at a better time in my life. I’ve always been intrigued by people who live with so little possession and many times found myself jealous of how little they had. I know… typically it’s the other way around. But I admired how uncluttered their homes were, or how they were able to maintain a closet with plenty of space to spare. I asked myself many times, can I still be fulfilled with less? Can I still live a life of happiness with only things that mattered the most to me in my possession? And when I kept asking those questions over and over again… deep down, I knew the answer to be an obvious YES. I knew because every time I consumed stuff, the happiness never lasted, and the more I consumed, the faster that temporary happiness went by and dissolved to nothing. Instead, time would pass and I would actively find the next best thing to acquire shortly after. This process is an endless loop that never ends. I’d go as far as calling it an addiction.
I woke up this morning with a need to distract myself, so I switched on Netflix and was just browsing for anything and came across Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things. I gave it a go and what I watched really hit home. I have been occupied with an internal battle to find happiness (which to me, more than anything, meant less stress.) and to find value in how I led my own life which in turn affects the ones I love around me. The documentary clarified a lot of the clouded thoughts I’ve been having for so long. Check out the trailer below.
What I love about the documentary is that it samples different ways one can perceive minimalism. There are so many levels, so many approaches and that it is possible to live happy outside of a consumerist society.
I’m a father of two wonderful kids ages 3 and 9, and husband to a wonderful loving wife. We rent an apartment roughly 750 sq. ft in total area. It’s small, but it’s enough. I also have a storage unit that is mostly being consumed by my folk’s stuff. And believe me when I say, renting a storage unit for so many years to house things that are never going to be used is a complete waste. About a year after my 2nd child was born, I made a decision to declutter and to slowly chip away at the storage unit with the ultimate goal of having no need for the storage unit. These goals unknowingly started a shift in my thinking of consumerism. In order to have room to bring these boxes full of stuff home so that I can mindfully go through, discard and coordinate with my folks about what can go, what needs to stay for whatever reason, I needed to make room in my already cluttered apartment. I really needed to think about what I brought in as a consumer because I was going nowhere if I was decluttering but refilling with something else. This process forced me to stop unnecessary consumption and start reclaiming space in my tiny home office and letting go of things I truly did not need.
I’ve gotten rid of so much stuff but the process is very slow and time-consuming. All I can say is that it gets better and gradually easier every time. I am far from done but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. I see now that I don’t need that many things to function and at the same time can be happy and genuinely appreciate the important things. Every layer I remove reveals a new layer that can further be worked on both on a physical and mental level. I know now that creating a space that is peaceful and possessing only what is important to me is the key to my happiness. Everything else sort of works out by themselves. I am not forcing this new thinking onto my wife and kids but have noticed that my example is beginning to take influence. Thank you, Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, for creating this documentary and giving this way of thinking a boost in society. It’s one of those things that everyone should be thinking about more seriously.