over the past 45 days since we intentionally decided to become minimalist, i have had scores of conversations with people about our decision. and it usually happens the same way…
my wife and i are sitting at a table with a group of people when one of our friends will say, “joshua, you should tell so-and-so about your minimalism decision.” i am usually reluctant, but often oblige when so-and-so reiterates the question. i try to begin as close to the beginning as possible (read it here) and take them through our journey while the parties ask questions along the way. somewhere about half-way through, i inevitably find agreement on the part of the listeners.
typically, they will respond with statements like, “i have so much stuff that i need to get rid of too,” or “you should see my basement, it’s a disaster,” or my favorite, “i can’t wait to get home and start throwing things away.” a smaller percentage will email or post a comment the following day journaling the boxes of junk or bags of clothes that they have removed from their lives.
the attractiveness of minimalism (to date, only two men have outright determined that they would never get rid of their stuff) seems so universal that i can’t help think that this is the way life is meant to be lived and when a soul hears the invitation, it responds favorably. we were never meant to live life accumulating stuff. we were meant to live simply enjoying the experiences of life, the people of life, and the God of life - not the things of life. i just wish it hadn’t taken me 33 years to figure that out.
related posts: possessions do not equal joy, the journey begins, a spiritual journey
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I love this quote you have in your post….”we were meant to live simply enjoying the experiences of life, the people of life, and the God of life – not the things of life.” Absolutely beautiful!
I’ve been slowly working towards a minimalist lifestyle, editing my bedroom (I live in an apartment, so I can’t exactly go whole hog) and my other possessions. At some point I hope to take on the 100 thing challenge and possibly move into a micro-house, but we’ll see how things go. At this point I think my main issue is my library.
New reader, love love love …
“we were never meant to live life accumulating stuff. we were meant to live simply enjoying the experiences of life, the people of life, and the God of life – not the things of life”
Can’t wait to read more.
Hi, I just stumbled upon your blog yesterday becuase I have been trying to organise my stuff.. I have a 9 month old baby and work full time and hate that so much of my time goes in organising around the house only to have everything back to where it was 2 weeks later( and I honestly dont even have that much stuff but its still more than I need). So I figured if I dont have so much stuff I wont be spending all my time organising it. So yesterday I went home and spent 10 minutes and cleaned out 2 of my kitchen drawers while holding my baby in one hand. and later on in the night around 10 pm I started organising my guest bedroom closet which has become a storage area. I worked for an hour after my baby was tucked into bed and got rid of 2 huge boxes of stuff. Thank you. I also like how you have archived the blog. It makes it easy to read your whole process from the beginning.