“Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it.” —Joshua Becker
Some people I speak with get nervous when they hear the term minimalist. For them, it conjures up images of destitution, barren walls, and empty cupboards.
Rightly so, they decide that is no way to enjoy life. Believe me, I agree—extreme minimalism is no way to enjoy life.
Maybe that is why I use the term rational minimalist and find it resonates so well. If you walked into my home today, you would not immediately deduce that a minimalist lives here.
When you look in our living room, you would see a television, couches, a family photo, and a rug. In our coat closet, you would find jackets, baseball caps, and a few winter weather accessories. In our kids’ rooms, you would find books, crafts, and toys in their closet. Since deciding to become minimalist years ago, we have been on a journey to define what that means for us and how it fits into our life.
We live in suburbia. We have two children. We are active in our community. We love to entertain, show hospitality, and host small groups from our church in our living room. I am a writer and my wife does bookkeeping. While not exceptional, our life is not identical to anybody else. It is our life—nobody else’s.
And if we were going to become minimalist, it would have to be a style of minimalism specific to us.
It would require us to ask questions, give-and-take, identify what we most value, and be humble enough to change course when necessary.
Your particular practice of minimalism is going to look different from everyone else. It must! After all, you live a different life than everyone else. You don’t have to dive into the deep end of extreme minimalism and live with just the clothes on your back.
You may have a large family, small family, or no family. You may live on a farm, in a house, or in a studio apartment.
You may collect antiques, stamps, or bottle caps. You may love music, movies, sports, or books. You may cherish old photographs, family heirlooms, or romantic letters from a lover.
Find a style of minimalism that works for you. One that is not cumbersome, but freeing based on your values, desires, passions, and rational thinking.
Be aware that your definition will not come overnight. It will take time. It will evolve—even change drastically as your life changes. It will require give and take. You will make a few mistakes along the way. And thus, it will also require humility.
But ultimately, you will begin to remove the unneeded things from your life. And when you do, you will find space to intentionally promote the things you most value and remove anything that distracts you from it.
Reyhane says
I actually wanna to know why Chomsky call minimalistics programm? not theory .
di says
Destitute, barren and empty may not be enjoyable for most, but it also plays a part in many lives.
Julie N. says
I greatly appreciate your non-judgemental attitude on minimalism. Minimalists that believe it should be a rigid way of doing things or rather NOT doing things don’t make their lifestyle very welcoming. I’m glad there’s a sliding scale. The process is one step at a time anyway, and I’m sure our ideas of minimalism will change as we go.
Kelekona says
I’ve been poking around on the web and have found extreme minimalism abhorrent. (Extreme as in not owning a stick of furniture or not being able to prepare fried egg on ramen.)
Actually, I had to spend a week in a rental house furnished down to the cookware, and by mid-week I had to visit one of the more jumbled thrift stores just to keep myself from going crazy. (And fumed that I found some great items but left empty-handed simply because I knew I wouldn’t want to deal with those new things right away.)
But I do admire “staged” spaces, especially in sitcoms. Everything in that space was chosen intentionally and is where it needs to be. If I could do a five-minute tidy (without any dump-and-run) and have everything but the storage room be ready for a magazine shoot, that is about as simple as I would be willing to live with.
Mid-line minimalists are cool, but it’s not my thing. I imagine people who live more “out in the world” than I do, don’t do any cooking that requires specialized gadgets or more than three pans, mostly have hobbies that don’t involve equipment, or only have one hobby with minor equipment needs.
I also intend to prove to my husband that you can indeed have more places to put things than you have things to put.
I do have inactive things, but it is much easier to hold onto something and eventually need it (or finally give up and toss it) than to need it and not have it.
However, I have determined that with a little time and effort, everything that is truly important to me will fit onto a hard drive. (There are things that I would spend years mourning if I had to leave them behind, but most of my physical stuff is things where I could and would buy a new one of. I honestly do use both of my crockpots at the same time often enough that I would be beyond annoyed to live with having only one.)
di says
It depends upon your comfort level.
Blogger Kate says
Joshua, I want to thank you for your blog. I really embrace your ideas and your thoughts have contributed to a lot of changes in my life during 2011. If you set out to make a difference…please know that you have! Happy New Year!
Riadwhab says
Thank you so much
See you later
bernie says
Its great to see that someone who is on the “A-List” doing there own thing and not just copying everyone else. This post was encouraging. Thanks,
Bernie
di says
Total deprivation is unhealthy…
Karen says
Rational minimalism. I like it!
Rachel says
I was thinking something similar recently: though I’m not done minimizing my stuff, even when I am done I know that visitors will look around and not realize they’re in a minimalist’s home.
I was sad for a second until I realized the magic is in what they won’t see (and what doesn’t exist): there’s nothing hiding from them in storage units, or in the garage (except my bicycle) or in my basement. What they see will be what there is. And like others who posted, I want a warm and inviting home.
In fact, by the time I finish getting rid of “theoretically useful but not useful enough to keep” things, a GREATER percentage of my belongings will probably be artwork than when I started.
becoming minimalist says
i wrote this post for several reasons:
1. i wanted to encourage others to pursue minimalism. i have found the lifestyle very fulfilling and enjoy sharing it with others.
2. i wanted to offer freedom to people to pursue a lifestyle of simplicity that fits their unique lifestyle and stage.
3. i wanted to give people the opportunity to interact with some of the material in the book (one of the advantages of a blog over a book).
4. i wanted to raise awareness of the book release on monday.
those were the reasons for the post. hopefully, we can get back to one of those (especially creating awareness of the the book’s release on monday…)
di says
Fulfilling, enjoying and freeing are excellent motivations…
TrishB says
Hey guys-I think your comments were posted-there is a lag due to work commitments. Not 100% certain, but you might want to check.