Beginnings in Minimalism
Hello
Well this is the first post on this blog. I'm sure that the world is full of blogs that all have a first post, most must surely contain a second post but how many last to even ten? I'm guessing the drop out rate is pretty high. If nobody reads it, if nobody reacts then I suppose it can get disheartening pretty quickly. So that's an upbeat note to start on. However I do feel upbeat at the moment, after a few weeks of feeling, well, less so.
I've been questioning things for a while now. All part of the human process I'm sure but as I get older and you realise that you have more days behind you than ahead of you (and if you're over 40 then statistically that's you!) the realisation that you might not actually do all (any?) of those things you were always putting off until later becomes pretty powerful. About six months ago I saw a film on my Netflix recommendations called Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things. The idea of living a more simple life with less 'stuff' struck a chord but it seemed impossible for me. Sure I could do it but my wife, the kids? No way! Our house is crammed full of stuff that might be useful one day. Yes, I fantasied about just putting a few belongings in a backpack and heading off to "just walk the earth" as Jules from Pulp Fiction once said. That was never going to happen.
And yet that film stuck with me and I found myself thinking about it often. I noticed the sheer volume of things all around the house and thought about how many of them I need, or even use. As I write this I can see a small child's telescope on the windowsill. It was a gift for my youngest daughter about 6 years ago. It's just always been there. I don't think anyone has looked through it in about 5 years and 11 months.
About a week ago I found that the guys behind that film (Joshua Fields Milburn & Ryan Nicodemus aka The Minimalists) had a podcast. I listened to the 1st episode and I was hooked and I've been listening on my commute back and forth all week. This just resonates with me. For a while I've been saying to friends that I want to concentrate on having fewer but higher quality items. This fits. So I decided to become a minimalist in a practical, non puritanical way.
My wife will think this is a wacky, mid-life crisis thing and dismiss it if I come straight out with it. So I'm easing things in gently. I've said that I'm going to have a bit of a de-clutter of my things. Important that I don't try to minimalise her things or our joint possessions. Let's start this thing of gently.
As it happens the first thing to go was a large sack of 58 'Talking Book' CDs that my mother-in-law had inexplicably thought we might like. They had sat in a cupboard for a couple of years and my wife had a month ago contacted the local school for the blind to see if they would like them. Time for action! I threw them in the car and drove right over there. They were delighted to receive them and it was lovely to meet the team there.
A great beginning and so tomorrow I will properly start the 30 day minimalism challenge, getting rid of 1 thing on day 1, 2 things on day 2 etc. Let's see how far I get!
If anyone should read this do please feel free to get in touch on Twitter @nickundertoad
Well this is the first post on this blog. I'm sure that the world is full of blogs that all have a first post, most must surely contain a second post but how many last to even ten? I'm guessing the drop out rate is pretty high. If nobody reads it, if nobody reacts then I suppose it can get disheartening pretty quickly. So that's an upbeat note to start on. However I do feel upbeat at the moment, after a few weeks of feeling, well, less so.
I've been questioning things for a while now. All part of the human process I'm sure but as I get older and you realise that you have more days behind you than ahead of you (and if you're over 40 then statistically that's you!) the realisation that you might not actually do all (any?) of those things you were always putting off until later becomes pretty powerful. About six months ago I saw a film on my Netflix recommendations called Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things. The idea of living a more simple life with less 'stuff' struck a chord but it seemed impossible for me. Sure I could do it but my wife, the kids? No way! Our house is crammed full of stuff that might be useful one day. Yes, I fantasied about just putting a few belongings in a backpack and heading off to "just walk the earth" as Jules from Pulp Fiction once said. That was never going to happen.
And yet that film stuck with me and I found myself thinking about it often. I noticed the sheer volume of things all around the house and thought about how many of them I need, or even use. As I write this I can see a small child's telescope on the windowsill. It was a gift for my youngest daughter about 6 years ago. It's just always been there. I don't think anyone has looked through it in about 5 years and 11 months.
About a week ago I found that the guys behind that film (Joshua Fields Milburn & Ryan Nicodemus aka The Minimalists) had a podcast. I listened to the 1st episode and I was hooked and I've been listening on my commute back and forth all week. This just resonates with me. For a while I've been saying to friends that I want to concentrate on having fewer but higher quality items. This fits. So I decided to become a minimalist in a practical, non puritanical way.
My wife will think this is a wacky, mid-life crisis thing and dismiss it if I come straight out with it. So I'm easing things in gently. I've said that I'm going to have a bit of a de-clutter of my things. Important that I don't try to minimalise her things or our joint possessions. Let's start this thing of gently.
As it happens the first thing to go was a large sack of 58 'Talking Book' CDs that my mother-in-law had inexplicably thought we might like. They had sat in a cupboard for a couple of years and my wife had a month ago contacted the local school for the blind to see if they would like them. Time for action! I threw them in the car and drove right over there. They were delighted to receive them and it was lovely to meet the team there.
A great beginning and so tomorrow I will properly start the 30 day minimalism challenge, getting rid of 1 thing on day 1, 2 things on day 2 etc. Let's see how far I get!
If anyone should read this do please feel free to get in touch on Twitter @nickundertoad
Comments
Post a Comment