Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Sarah Peck.
“We live in a world of scarcity. Which means we feel like we never have enough.” – Brené Brown
Living in a world of scarcity means that we’re constantly searching for the next thing to fill us up, the next destination or achievement to make us whole. Our world is filled with messages that tell us we don’t have enough space, enough stuff, enough clothes, enough fitness. We’re never skinny enough or pretty enough or good enough or rich enough.
This scarcity model drives consumption and accumulation; it spurs us to want more, to buy things because we think it will fill the void. We press to work harder, to get fitter, to buy more clothes, to acquire more things in the name of filling the hole.
The problem with scarcity, however, is that you can’t fill it or fix it with things.
The answer to scarcity, ironically, isn’t more. It is enough.
What you have is enough. Who you are is enough. As Danielle LaPorte says in her Fire Starter Sessions: “You already have everything you need.”
What about Minimalist Enough?
This cuts both ways, however. As a person with lots of things, and an apartment with hundreds of books, I sometimes feel like my efforts to de-clutter and reduce the number of things that surround me aren’t enough. And the thought begins to creep in: I’m not minimalist enough. I see someone who is minimalist and only has 100 things and the internal voice begins again, “I guess I’m not minimalist… enough.”
These attitudes are pervasive and can race around in my head. I can quickly become overwhelmed with the desire to eliminate stuff, lose weight, be better, do more, achieve….more.
But the idea of minimalism isn’t about reaching a goal, or checking off a box, or reaching a certain destination. To me, minimalism is realizing that what I already have is enough, and that adding clutter to the pile won’t make it any better. And chasing a dream of more minimalism is, ironically, not what I’m after either.
To me, as I breathe out and sigh into the life that I’m living, and find gentler ways to tweak, edit, and refine; I find that recognizing what is important and what is not is the most critical exercise.
Stripping away the excess lets us get to the bones of what really matters. Get to the heart space. Get to the pieces that are important. And that level can be different for different people.
My Modest Minimalist Journey.
I recently conducted an experiment in which I decided to stop buying new clothes for the entire year. (There were two exceptions: shoes and underwear, but only as needed). For an entire year, I lived without buying anything new, on purpose. As a female in a clothes-and-image-centric society, I wanted to see what it was like to live without shopping for a while.
I was always dismayed by the number of female friends that were readily going into debt to maintain their image in public. When I thought about it, $400 outfits (the average price on any feature shopping magazine page) can add up to a lot of money if one were to wear a new outfit every day for a year. (That’s $150,000 just on clothes—who are we kidding?). You might think I’m joking—but to be perfectly honest, I know people who are $20,000 and $30,000 in credit card debt from clothes shopping alone. The image pressures on females (and males!) can be increasingly intense.
Yet over the year, as I experimented in my journey of wearing and re-wearing the same outfits hundreds of times, I also found there were times when I got discouraged—especially when I looked around online and saw things like the Versalette by revolution apparel. I inadvertently compared myself to other people who were doing a better job at buying nothing than I was.
But then I realized: I don’t have to be the best or the most minimalist. I can be minimalist enough. Minimalism isn’t about winning, and it isn’t about a particular achievement. It’s about finding out what matters to you, and getting rid of the peripheral.
Over the course of the year, I thinned out my closet and pared down to a few favorite items. I made over twenty trips to charity with bags of clothes and gently worn shoes that I no longer needed. At one point, I had socks and underwear with holes in them, and I got out my sewing machine and fixed them up. Making old things new again was surprisingly satisfying. Getting rid of all of my extra socks—and just having a few pairs to use each day—actually made my life simpler. The process of getting rid of things reminded me of what I liked—and what mattered.
Over time, I started to become acutely aware of everything that crossed the physical threshold of my front door. The amount of stuff that piled up around me on a daily basis crept into my consciousness, and I’m still surprised by the amount of clutter we let into our lives each day. Every time I brought something new in—mail, letters, books, ideas, shopping bags—I tried to make a conscious effort that the stuff I was bringing with me was valuable, and that I was also taking enough stuff out of the apartment each day to keep my space maintainable.
Untethering from the need to consume was surprisingly easy. It was the attitude change that made the most difference: looking through my things and realizing I already had enough—that I didn’t have to rush out and buy something new to fill a hole or a need—let me breathe again. It was relaxing and reassuring to know what I had was okay. What you are is already good enough.
I learned, slowly, that having excess stuff was giving me a headache, wasting my time and energy, and wasting a lot of money I wanted to focus on eliminating debt.
Over time, I will continue to whittle away at the things I don’t need in order to make space for the things I love. It turns out, all those unnecessary clothes were crowding out the space of the things I loved. I got rid of several boxes and cleared off a space for all of my books—one of my loves. Clearing out, to me, is about reducing the unnecessary clutter in your life to make space for what matters, and finding a balance that lets your soul breathe. It’s about stripping away the things you don’t need so you can focus on what’s important.
Sometimes a subtle attitude shift or a small sacrifice can make a big difference. Like taking the time to appreciate that what you already have is enough. And your effort? It’s enough.
Because stuff isn’t what matters.
What you have is enough. YOU are enough.
***
Sarah Peck is a writer, designer and storyteller.
Theodore says
Spot on Sarah! Good for you to take the path less travelled and to also remind yourself to stay gentle with yourself!
Terry Hadaway says
Excellent post. In a culture where extravagance is the norm, living with what you have can be a challenge. It’s funny how much trouble we go to to impress people we don’t know while going to such little effort to influence those we do know. It’s a strange world of paradoxes!
Sarah T. says
Well said!
Wendy Bottrell says
Great post! Like you I have been paring down stuff for the last few years! Not completely done however it feels great. Thanks for the reminder, Because stuff isn’t what matters. What you have is enough. YOU are enough. Best Regards, Wendy
Kathleen @ Frugal Portland says
Very well said. You’re perfect as-is — and comparing yourself to others really helps you forget that!
Andrea Drugay says
Fantastic! I also did this, in 2010 ~ gave up buying clothes for a year. I wrote about my experience here, if you’re interested: http://shapeshifteryoga.blogspot.com/2011/01/year-of-not-buying-clothes-my-2010.html
It was worth every challenge and has definitely made me “better” at defining what I need, want, and keep ~ not just in clothing but in all areas of my life.
Sandy says
Thank you!Thank You! thank you! I just made my own challenge yesterday as I was trying to organize my closet, asking myself…Could I not buy any new clothes for one year. Would I be able to really do it? I’m sick of the stress of stuff and credit card debt I have carried for years. Then by the grace of God I found your journal from when you did the same thing! I look forward to reading your thoughts as I head into 2013 with my goal of NOT BUYING ANY NEW CLOTHES FOR 2013!
sandy
jaydubya says
I guess I’ve always been a closet minimalist (yes, bad pun) as I normally don’t buy new clothes until I need them. It’s very easy for me to go a year without buying anything new except maybe underwear and shoes, just like you said. And I was never trying! Cool! ;-)
AlexM says
I had stripped my wardrobe down to fit in a small closet because we were moving. What I found was that out of all the items I scaled back to, there were still about seven or eight pieces that I thought would be important that I haven’t touched in months! The internal debate now, is do I get rid of them for good, or keep them around for the few times I think I might need them. Will that day ever come? Or will I get rid of them and if that day comes then feel like I have to replace them? This is the type of thing that keeps me from getting rid of more stuff. But I found that just the action of scaling back made it even easier to realize that we basically wear the same stuff over and over again.
Katie says
Thank you for sharing. I am beginning to gather resources for a possession purge series I’ll be co-hosting on my blog. Love this.
Samantha says
As a fairly new minimalist this article made me smile. I have never been the sort to keep up with fashion. I have no clue what matches what or what is in. Occcasionly I see fashion catch up with me, but generally I am so unfashionable. Most of my clothes have lasted 20 years or more, I only have a few modern purchases that make breastfeeding easier. I am considering reducing my wardrobe further as I tend to wear the same outfits all the time. I could happily live on the wear one, wash one theory for the rest of my life without the need for accessories. Maybe there has been a bit of minimalist in my longer than I realised.
sue says
I am fairly new to the minimalist scene as well and I loved this blog/article. My feelings are the same as yours concerning fashion!! Books – I love!! Clothing?? I could do exactly what you mentioned – wear one, wash one. I, too, think I have been a minimalist, at least in my head, for a lot longer than I realized. :)
LAJ says
You must live in the country. You can’t work in town and wear the same clothes every day. In Minnesota we need at least 4 outfits to cope with the weather changes!
Shadlyn Wolfe says
Thank you for this post, Sarah! This is exactly what I struggle with all the time; is it right to call myself a minimalist if I still keep my collection of art supplies? If I have a huge number of shared ownership DVDs that I’m ignoring because I don’t have the final say?
It can be really easy to end up comparing ourselves to the “Celebrity Minimalists” like Tammy or Leo. The challenges they undertake are amazing…but comparing our lifestyles to theirs can be just as frustrating as a mainstream comparison to the flavor-of-the week superstar.
We all need to be free to find the level that works for us. It’s good to challenge yourself, but those challenges need to be based on your life, and not anyone else’s!