That Misunderstanding

I think one of the funniest things that keeps happening to me ever since I became a minimalist is my folks questioning me anytime they see me doing something nice. “Our minimalist got a new phone?” “What concerns a minimalist with going on a dinner date?” And I genuinely don’t blame them at all because most people think being a minimalist is about depriving yourself of nice things just to live a simple life. But who even said simplicity has something to do with raggedy?

And of course, I understand the concept of minimalism enough to ignore them but for someone who doesn’t, this is where extreme minimalism stems from. From my own point of view, people who take less is more too far are mostly those who don’t understand the concept of minimalism. There are “minimalists” who wear really old shoes and clothes, oh and even starve sometimes while they have money, all in the name of consuming less.

Others, especially the influencers, also think they have a number of followers to prove a point to so they just show us extreme minimalism for the views. And that’s how you know these people probably don’t even know what they are doing. These two people aside, there are also people who know but don’t even understand the basic things in minimalism.

I remember way back in the university before I became a minimalist, I had a minimalist friend who got rid of his standing fan because he wanted to declutter his space. This was the case where we were in a tropical region. He got heat rashes which landed him in a hospital. And I remember getting confused and thinking minimalism was about depriving yourself of comfortability. But we later realized he was just doing his own version of minimalism which was extreme just to prove a point to the minimalist club on campus.

Years later after understanding the concept of minimalism and becoming one myself, I got to also learn that of course minimalists can’t do away with decluttering but then minimalists are good strategists too and love to live sustainaby.

And most importantly, don’t even live for the validation of others. So when people declutter all the time and always want to get rid or give out things for societal validation even when they will need them someday in the near future, there comes a question mark on their minimalism. And yes, that’s extreme minimalism from where I stand.

Sometimes, even true minimalists who understand our concept lose focus and find themselves being extreme due to reasons known to them. And that is okay because minimalism doesn’t mean perfection but then it is important to never forget that this lifestyle dwells on living a good life, free of unnecessary load.

In the end, it’s really about being in a good space mentally and physically, living a simple yet healthy and beautiful life. And I know this is far from doing things which could end up being detrimental to your wellbeing.