7 Years Later...What I Wish I'd Known About Minimalism
Several years ago, I created a post and video on the pros and cons of minimalism based on my few years of experience living minimally at that time. That post is still the most visited post on my site, so I thought I’d do an update after living simply for almost 7 years now. I wanted to share 4 more things that I’ve learned and wish I understood when starting my minimalist journey. If you prefer video, skip to the bottom of the article to view.
The desire to acquire doesn’t go away completely.
I still want things that I don’t need or love. Now, my willpower has definitely gotten stronger and I don’t buy most of the things I’m attracted to, but still…sometimes I’m surprised by how much I still want, especially when it comes to thrifting. Even though thrifting is a more mindful, sustainable form of consumption, giving discarded items new life and keeping them out of the landfill, and it’s cheaper, I still have to keep myself from going ham in the thrift store. Just because something is cheap and nice doesn’t mean it will add value to my life. In the beginning, I thought that minimalism would gradually reduce my desire for consumption, but it’s clear I still have work to do. My desire for things needs to be addressed on emotional and spiritual levels and likely is connected to growing up poor.
The constant interrogation can be exhausting.
Deciding if I should acquire something is not always a simple process. Large and small purchases alike can take time to consider. Sometimes I get so sick of the back and forth with myself, I end up not buying anything! I suppose not buying anything is the silver lining for my space and my wallet, but still, the process is frustrating and decision fatigue is a real thing. I talk about decision fatigue in my book and how it can sometimes lead to making poor decisions. Whether you’re minimalist or not, we all suffer from it because of the society we live with information overload. Our lifestyle, career, relationships, technologies, and more all contribute to the number of decisions we make in any given day. For me though, I think the fatigues comes from a lack of commitment to my values and priorities at times. If I was 100% committed, would it be easier and quicker to say yes or no? Knowing your priorities, which stem from your values, and keeping them fresh in your mind, helps simplify the decision making process.
Social media can become another form of consumption.
This idea is also related to the society we live in, similar to decision fatigue, but it’s related to minimalism because I believe on some level, I’ve replaced physical consumption with digital consumption. The endless scroll of social media and fulfills the need for more! Social media doesn’t take up physical space, it doesn’t cost money, but it’s the most expensive thing we consume because it costs us our time and takes up mental and emotional space. I believe that even many seasoned minimalists like myself still struggle with digital consumption. If your work or hobbies are connected to use of the internet, it can be even more daunting to unplug. I use the internet for work, to keep up with friends and family, for entertainment, and for marketing myself and it’s definitely been hard to unplug. When I was writing Mindful Simplicity, I started using the screen time functions on my iPhone more consistently because I could not afford to waste time. Social media can also have you out here thinking you’re a fraud. I’ve definitely compared myself to others and questioned whether I was “minimalist” enough or wondered why my platform isn’t as large as others. Ultimately, I’ve had to remind myself that my journey is mine, what is for me is for me, and it’s imperative to embrace who I am in this space.
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport and How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell are good books to read on the impact of the digital world in our lives.
Minimalism can get boring.
If you only consume the popular aesthetic minimalism where everyone looks the same and has the same style, and does the same things, you may not recognize the diversity of minimalism. I was definitely guilty of playing into the minimalist aesthetic when it came to my website and wardrobe, until I got tired of it. While there is nothing wrong with that minimalist look, in my opinion it’s not representative of all that minimalism can be. If we believe that each of us gets to define minimalism for ourselves, then it should look differently. Additionally, not everyone who lives simply and intentionally identify as minimalists. Black Minimalists was created so that we, black folx, could see ourselves represented in this movement and show the myriad ways we express ourselves. In this community and beyond, there are people who consider themselves to be alternative dwellers, ecoists, who practice debt-freedom or sustainability. Not only are there many ways of being “minimalist”, but on my journey, minimalism has shown up in other areas, like my spiritual practice Hoodoo. Hoodoo is all about cleansing, being clutter-free, and using what you have (ancestors included) to get what you need and want. It appears in my beauty and self-care practice, as well, as my art. Let’s focus on and celebrate the multifacetedness of minimalism.
Understanding these four realizations for me represents my maturity on this journey. After 7 years, I feel as though I’m seasoned in some respects, but just beginning in others. I’m discovering new layers of me and this lifestyle through creativity and spirituality. I’ve learned a lot about myself and I’m grateful to have found minimalism and I look forward to how my journey will evolve over the years.
Tell me, what do you wish you had known before or when starting your minimalist journey?
What's In My Bag | Feature
My friend and BM teammate, Farai, asked me to participate in their “What’s In My Bag Wednesday” series. The series features diverse, minimalist or minimal-ish folx and I’m honored to be a part of the series. Read an excerpt from my interview below.
How long have you practiced minimalism or been interested in minimalism, and why?
December 2019 will mark 7 years since I began practicing minimalism. I started unknowingly because I was stuck and unmotivated in my life at the time and I felt like I needed to go back to the drawing board, so I started decluttering the physical stuff, which then led me to time, commitments, goals and beyond.
What are your favorite blogs, resources, books that you go to for inspiration?
Of course I follow you and Black Minimalists. I also enjoy Alyson Simply Grows, Christine of The Afrominimalist, Amanda of Mama of Intention, and Erin of Reading My Tea Leaves. For books, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo is a classic and Essentialisms by Greg McKeown is a must-read.
Read the full story on Farai’s blog, The Hillbilly African and you can watch my video below.
Making What You Have Enough or How to do What You Want in Life
On paper y'all, I'm considered working class and have been for the past 5 years since I left my left my last full-time job. Somehow I've managed to visit Mexico twice, the Philippines, finally made it to the West Coast, and I recently lived abroad in Mexico for six months.
This blog post was inspired by an instagram post from Brown Kids, E. and Roe, about wanting to travel and using the resources you already have to do so. One commenter, @hope.wanderer, stated, "I made up my mind and just did it" and that's really what it boils down to in this life. If you want to do anything, including travel, you have to make up your mind first (set the intention) and then do it (act).
Minimalism
I have to credit my minimalist journey with helping me understand my values and what I wanted for my life. Practicing minimalism has empowered me to live more freely. When I started transitioning to a minimalist lifestyle in 2012, I made up my mind about several things:
- I wanted to have more control over my time.
- I wanted to travel more.
- I wanted to have a healthier relationship with money.
I've done all these things in the past five years and I'm still going. So what do you need to do? Everyone's path is different, but here are some key actions that made all this possible for me.
Know what you want and why.
First of all, do you even know what you want? Sometimes it's easier to think about all the things we don't want, especially when life feels overwhelming, but you also need to know what you actually want to make space for in your life. We want to do so many things and we may do all of them . . . eventually, but you need to start with a specific goal. Pick one thing and create a plan. Prioritize what is most important to you at this point in your life and understand why.
Decide what you have is enough.
Once I knew I wouldn't be working full-time anymore and actually quit my job, I knew I was going to have to change how I managed my money and how I felt about money. Every now and then, I still feel some guilt about the money I wasted in the past and what I could've done with it. Hell, even living in Mexico, I struggled with the amount of money I spent, but guilt is a useless emotion. All I can do now, is get back on track and make better decisions going forward and recognize I'm blessed to have the awareness and experience of doing just that.
I've traveled more. I've started businesses. I've paid off non-student loan debts. I've given more to others. I've been present more. I've done it all and am still doing it on part-time streams of income and saving. I'm not going to miss out on living my dreams and goals based on the amount of money in my bank account.
Tips for making what you have enough:
- Stay focused on your goal.- Things will come up that challenge your commitment to your goal, but remind yourself often what you are working towards.
- Budget.- I credit Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University with teaching me about zero-based budgeting. Honestly, how strict I am correlates to the amount of money I'm working with and I'm still working on being strict no matter how much money I have, but I know for a fact that it works. Even a basic budget and understanding of where your money is spent is better than nothing.
- Save.- Take every opportunity you have to put something away for the future and your peace of mind. Not working full-time, I also wasn't saving automatically for my retirement. So I opened a Roth IRA and put the minimum I could afford into that account.
- Pay off as much debt as possible.- It's debatable if you should pay off all your debts first or save as you go, but it all depends on what your main goal is. For me, I chose to pay off all the lingering debts I had, not including my student loans, while saving as much as I could to travel and live abroad.
- Learn to say no.- To things, people, and situations that don't serve your goal.
- Follow through, even if it's not what you expected.
- Don't let setbacks take you out of the game and celebrate along the way.
What tips have helped you "make what you have enough"?
I Was Featured in a Japanese Newspaper
Source: Kousuke So
I hate this picture.
All I could think about when I received the newspaper in the mail was why did he chose this picture? Is that how he viewed me and what I shared? I was super pro-black and passionate about what I shared and I guess he chose the image he felt matched my tone? In reality, this photo was taken after a long ass interview and I was exhausted. I was pantomiming, giving various poses, and I also smiled and laughed.
To be honest, it feels like another version of the Angry Black Woman. If you look at the other posts in this series, you'll see a distinct difference between the subject matter and tone of my interview and the others. Truthfully, a part of me is angry black people still aren't free and I'm also passionate about minimalism as a tool to help us get free.
Perhaps I'm focusing on the wrong things here.
Out of all the subjects, I was honored to be chosen to share what minimalism means to me and represent the Black Minimalists community. I was interviewed for three grueling hours and in that time I gave him the low down on the socioeconomics of being black in America, generational wealth, poverty, lack of representation in the mainstream minimalist movement, and why Black Minimalists exists.
I've always felt that Black Minimalists was something greater than I could understand, but in sharing all this with Kousuke, it really hit home for me how vital this community really is. The most important idea I think I conveyed to him and which I hope comes across in this article is that Black Minimalists is a social movement about liberation. When looking at the history of black people in the United States, I understand freedom means something different to us and this is why Black Minimalists exists.
Grateful for the opportunity.
Regardless of how the interview is perceived or what got lost in translation, I'm glad I spoke my truth and hope my interview sheds light on the power of minimalism from a social empowerment lense.
The interview took place in May 2017 at the National Postal Museum and Union Station in Washington, D.C. and was published in The Asahi Shimbun Globe on July 2, 2017. I was featured in a series along with The Minimalists, Fumio Sasaki (author of Goodbye Things), and other minimalists from around the world.
Read the full article. I must warn you Google's English translation is terrible. If you're fluent in Japanese, please read the article and tell me your thoughts.
Thoughts From A Poor Minimalist
Does Minimalism Glamorize Poverty?
We tackled this question over on Black Minimalists and posed it on our instagram:
This is a topic and question that has been posed over the years as the minimalism trend grows. It sparked a lot of debate in our community so I thought I'd share my response to the question with you.
From BlackMinimalists.net:
"In popular debates about whether the trend of minimalism is the glamorization of poverty, the word “choice” is often the defining word separating the minimalist haves from the impoverished have nots. Even my three team members above have referred to the word "choice" in their opinions.
Personally, I find it a bit perplexing to say poor people lack choice and thus agency. Can you choose to be a minimalist and lack certain resources, i.e. be poor? From what I’ve read on the subject, it would seem not, but here I am, living proof.
I grew up poor and by current U.S. societal standards, I’m still poor. I’ve lived in some type of low-income housing, including a trailer park, for most of my life and have received government assistance in various forms. I also have a college degree which ironically has both elevated and further impoverished me at the same damn time.
I flirted with a middle class lifestyle while working my last full-time job five years ago. I chose to return to poverty and pursue a minimalist lifestyle after becoming disillusioned with the emotional, spiritual, and mental labor required to ascend to and maintain an average middle class life. Part of that labor also stemmed from an inability to reconcile a poverty mindset with a newly (physically) abundant one.
Additionally, I know many people in the larger minimalist movement and within the black minimalist community who have chose minimalism as a way to skirt poverty or at least maintain what they have while living the most healthy, sustainable lifestyle they can manage.
Choosing poverty is not glamorous at all, especially when you truly understand what it means to be poor. Would I rather not be poor? Absolutely, and I hope not to stay poor for much longer. What being poor (and minimalist) has taught me is to understand my values, who I am, and what I need and want at this point in my life.
What gives me solace and empowers me in the midst of my poverty, is what I’ve found this time that has alluded me previously, freedom. The freedom to use my limited resources in ways that service my mental, spiritual, and physical well-being. The freedom to not let any label, be it poor or minimalist, define who I am, and to know I’m not defined by the stuff that I own. The freedom of knowing I’m living better, lessening my footprint in this world, and impacting my communities to do the same. This freedom comes from minimalism.
Are there minimalists from privileged backgrounds who romanticize and commodify simple living? Of course, but why do people even care if someone wants to live a life they perceive as poor? At the end of the day, even performative poverty still consumes less resources and lowers negative environmental impacts, which still benefits everyone.
When I hear people rejecting minimalism because of the perceived festishization of poverty, their arguments reek of smugness, but also some unacknowledged truths. I think the undercurrent of their disdain for minimalists comes from a belief in the American Dream where your value equals the amount of stuff you own and they don’t want to give up their stuff or they haven’t yet obtained all the stuff they think their entitled to per the dream. It’s a real fear to be considered “poor” let alone actually be poor, and they know their consumptive lifestyle is doing more harm to actual poor people than minimalism."
Read the other Black Minimalists team members' responses here.