My gut reaction is that I just don't see the benefit of extreme minimalism. For me, minimalism is a tool to live a more peaceful life. Extreme minimalism seems more like a challenge or discipline that would create stress. Is this the draw? To test yourself on how little you can do with? Having to be resourceful, ingenuitive and persevere through difficulty?
I'm genuinely asking, I'd love to hear from some folks who derive benefit or satisfaction from this. What draws you? What are you seeking?
I totally hear you and I have a lot of chaos in my house with a 5 and 2 year old, but it's getting better. As others have said, you're in the thick of it. Take solace in that its gonna get better.
Something some one told me that helped a lot is to get into the mindset of "living in moments" for now. You probably still have tons of little moments that can be simple. The five minutes it takes to make your coffee in the morning, your commute to work, those few minutes chatting with you wife before sleeping. Try to notice those moments and really drink them in and let them fill you instead of slipping by. Also, when you notice those moments, purposefully lay down the tension from the 45 minute meltdown you just handled, because that's over, and try to just live in that moment a while, cause in another five minutes you're gonna be cleaning up a blowout lol.
Anytime friend! Yeah it's definitely a good starting point! Honestly it was the first Minimalist documentary on Netflix that pulled things into focus for me, but then I feel like I outgrew that world. I hope that doesn't come across as sanctimonious.
Lol I did the same thing and lost my long well thought it response. Heres the gist; I agree with Inasaba so much. I started out exploring minimalism, but became repulsed by the prevalence of minimalism being the goal rather than a means to a goal. (Had the same experience with the ultralight backpacking community). When used as a principle component of a larger framework, it definitely compliments simple living. My personal philosophy is a combination of simple living, spirituality (mix of Druidry, Buddhism, Pantheism maybe), naturalism, and love (and probably some other things I haven't quite sussed out).
I think minimalism in a vacuum is unlikely to provide significant satisfaction, but can be an emergent property of other pursuits. Conversely, in pursuing other virtues that can benefit from minimalism, it can be very helpful to examine minimalism specifically to help establish intentionality and prcaticalize principles to get you where you want to be.
Lol I saw this critique a while back and it's spot on, but that being said I owe a great deal of gratitude to these weirdos.
I discovered minimalist through their first documentary on Netflix when I was in a pretty dark place and it resonated with my SO much that it kindled a fire, and I began exploring to topic myself, which lead me to learning more about stoicism, Buddhism, meditation, and ton of bloggers/communities/discussions/perspectives/etc on minimalism.
I listened to their podcast for a while and their new documentary, but after a while I feel like I aimply outgrew them. They didn't change; I did. Their pithy anecdotes and black and white presentation of the philosophy really started to urk me and feel superficial or even phoney. I found myself with a pretty negative impression of them, though their message is the same.
I've resolved that although I not longer enjoy their offerings, they were the catalyst I needed to start my own journey, and I hope that their wash/rinse/repeat message is purposeful and vurtuous and that ithelps others to start their own journeys, even though those already on the journey are able to derive very little from ongoing engagement with them.
I'm all about enjoying less weight, but I agree also with looking into a backpacking chair from helinox or equivalent. I have an REI brand chair and it's totally worth the weight for me. Absolute luxury in the trial!
Grear share, and I think over scheduling and overcommittingis my biggest struggle. Makes me think that a good ways understanding the simple living philosophy is that it's the opposite of complex/complicated living, doing what you can to remove complexity and increasing time and headspace.
First time seeing these flowers. They're gorgeous at every stage 😀
For me it's about super simple yet savory dishes. Oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon or dried berries, peanuts butter and honey wraps, jasmine rice with a few pinches from the ol sprice bag (different every time, but might have any of cumin, turmeric, garlic, onion powder, cilantro, oregano, thyme, dill, paprika, or red pepper flakes) or just a bullion cube. Simple and yummy after a long hard day on the trail or a chilly morning to warm the bones ☺️
I think it might be neat for the icon to be a simple (obviously) scene with some things people most often mentioned in those fun posts from r/simpleliving where someone asks, "what brings you joy in some living" or "what do you do to live a simple life." A cartoon of a sunrise, a hill green, with a tree and flower dots perhaps? Though, I know for me simple living means a strong connection to nature, but that's not universal of course. For any it's a cozy place, a warm blanket, a cup of coffee, and a good book. For others it means leaving a life of excess to living a scaled down life in a small dwelling, fewer expenses, and focusing on friendships and experiences.
Perhaps it's worth starting a separate discussion on what we view as the core tenets of simple living and find what themes unite everyone's interpretation of simple living to gain inspiration for an icon 😁
Sorry, I guess this wasn't really a straightforward suggestion lol. How about a sky blue circle with a yellow circle overlaying the blue circle near the top and color the bottoms 1/3 ff the blue filled circle a grass green color. So it's looks like the ground, sky, and sun 🌞
I've been thinking about getting into that series. I've heard they're great. I loved the games and the Netflix show. Might check that out once I get thru the WoT 😀
I changed from working 40 hours a week to 32 hours per week (4 x 8 hour days) and it has really helped my mental health. Took some adjustment financially, but now I don't even notice! Highly recommend!