minimalism has a ton of misconceptions
and some issues with gatekeeping and
just some general confusion around the
topic so I wanted to make this video
today for anyone that might be new or
wanting to learn more or discuss
minimalism as a practice in short I
truly believe that minimalism can play a
positive and beneficial role for
everyone I was first introduced around
2010-2011 and a friend make a
documentary called thrive with less I'll
be sure to link it below it was great
since then I've been slowly
incorporating different principles of
minimalism into my life and that's
something that I think it's often
overlooked you see people that see
minimalism and they think you know I
want to be a minimalist or you have
people that are minimalist saying you
know you need to do this and this and
this to be a minimalist it's so
important to remember that minimalism is
a practice not a binary state of being
you're not a minimalist or not a
minimalist it minimalism is a practice
that everyone can enjoy and use in their
own way in my opinion it's mostly about
removing the excess from your life and
this can be from an aesthetic standpoint
or from a functional standpoint you know
removing that excess out of your life to
appreciate the things that you have in
your life even more and just allow
yourself to enjoy your life a little bit
more freely without the responsibilities
of that excess so that can mean a ton of
different things for a ton of different
people you know everyone's situation is
going to be different everyone's going
to have a different job everyone's going
to have different hobbies the important
thing to remember is just to evaluate
the things in your life and see if they
bring value in some capacity so say
someone collects you know sports
memorabilia those items might be the
most prized valuable possessions in
someone's life where it truly brings
them joy it decorates their space where
they live and overall they just have a
big positive impact on their life but
for someone like me that doesn't really
like sports at all those items are
useless and I would just assume get rid
of them because they're not bringing me
any value that idea should and can be
trans
into any category so before any
minimalist out there go out and shame
people publicly be sure to remember and
realize that people are going to have
different lives than you they're going
to need different things for their work
they're going to have different
interests and hobbies so be kind and
realize that everyone's life and
situation is different and this kind of
rounds into the next slash main point I
wanted to bring up through this video is
the gatekeeping issues you know I've
recently started talking more and more
about minimalism on my youtube channel
here and to be honest I've seen a lot of
negativity and toxicity around the
community and around the subject we
should be encouraging people to start a
minimalist journey and to incorporate
minimalism into their life and it's
important to remember that you need to
start slow on that process because a lot
of people cull things out just because
you know I want to be a minimalist it's
trendy making sure that you're doing
things intentionally in your life is
super important so I think it's our role
as minimalists or someone that practices
minimalism to encourage that and others
that might not be as advanced as you so
be nice to the newbies essentially if
anyone is new to minimalism you know put
yourself out there and try and ignore
the haters and for any of the
experienced minimalists or people that
have been enjoying the fruits of
minimalism for a long time you know
instead of shaming someone for what
they're doing try and encourage or give
advice keep it positive essentially you
don't want to be turning people away or
giving you know the whole idea or
movement or whatever you want to call it
you want to be giving it a bad
reputation out there because I think
it's something that's important for the
long-term future for environmental
aspects I think can be really important
for a lot of people's personal lives in
terms of you know maybe living with less
income and still enjoying and
appreciating their life and the things
that they own and you know it just
encompasses all things and on that note
for the newbies start slow I get so many
comments with people saying you know
just discovered minimalism and I'm doing
this and this and this in the next
couple of months and I'll be a full
minimalist and getting rid of my entire
wardrobe and I'm buying an entirely new
capsule wardrobe and getting rid of my
furniture for some minimalist you know
Scandinavian design furniture people try
to overhaul their lives and all that
generally will do is lead to more
failure and more purchasing things and
more you know wanting and wishing for
more physical goods so take it slow you
know I am someone that's been working on
a capsule wardrobe for several years now
you know it's not something I'm going to
go out and buy twenty thirty pieces of
clothing but every time I buy a new
piece of clothing you know I am making
sure that it fits into the rest of my
wardrobe so taking it slowly making sure
that the items I'm buying are
intentional you know I think that really
sits at the core of what minimalism is
you know intentionality with the things
in your life there's no specific amount
of things or specific amount of things
that you've got rid of that are going to
determine you as a minimalist or not a
minimalist think of it as a practice
it's something that's there to encourage
and learn from and grow from and expand
upon and it's something to enrich your
life it's not a binary way of being it's
a practice you know everyone's going to
get better over time and no one's going
to be perfect and there's no finish line
with education in that sense so for
anyone new and starting off with
minimalism maybe this is the first video
you've ever seen about it
welcome we encourage you feel free to
reach out any time if you have questions
and I wish you the best of luck on your
journey and learning experience with
minimalism I hope everyone really
enjoyed this hopefully I didn't rant too
much it's just something that really
frustrates me when I see it so I wanted
to make this video separate so I can
link it and show people that I think
need to so let's continue the discussion
down in the comments thank you all so
much for watching and I will talk to you
in the next one
you
