Have you ever wondered why it is increasingly difficult to give meaning to life? Why finding happiness is a challenge? What ingredients are left over or lacking in your life to achieve it? Perhaps what we culturally call happiness does not coincide with our feeling of well-being.
The overload of daily stimuli, in a reality that invokes consumption, is one of the possible responses. There are more and more objects that we conceive as necessary, be it to achieve happiness or well-being. In this sense, we become heavier. The burden that these desires imply turns to the metaphysical and even emotional plane. And in that list of inputs that becomes infinite, we are leaving for last what is essentially necessary, for example, freedom.
Tired of this sorrow – which can be disguised but not suppressed – a movement of people who practice minimalism as a lifestyle arose. The above is condensed in an online platform called The Minimalists, a project that invites us to discover the ability that humans have to choose a minimalist life and live truly amazed by our existence. The project was created by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, who advise that «minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excesses in favor of focusing on what’s important, so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and happiness.» freedom».
Minimalism as a lifestyle is not giving up what you like best
As they warn on their website, practicing minimalism is not giving up your home, your favorite musical instrument, your family or your city. It is not a lifestyle that can only be achieved by those who have income to support a living, for example, in the middle of nature. It reads on the page that:
The problem today seems to be the meaning we assign to our things: we tend to give them too much meaning, often neglecting our health, our relationships, our passions, our personal growth, and our desire to contribute beyond ourselves. Do you want to have a car or a house? Great, do it! Do you want to start a family and have a career? If these things are important to you, then that’s wonderful. Minimalism simply allows you to make these decisions more consciously, more deliberately.
The minimalist suggestion is concrete: live a life based on goals and not things
But how to get it? The platform works as a means to project the cases documented by many people around the world who chose to live in a minimalist way. It is not surprising that these are truly different individuals, since philosophy is moldable according to the most important symbols in the life of each human being.
According to the users of this page, minimalism has allowed them to live in the moment, reclaim time, focus on health, create more and consume less, discover their missions and passions, contribute to the planet beyond themselves, and experience true freedom. . For minimalists, this translates to lasting (and to some extent, enviable) happiness.
While the bill does not mention positive impacts on the environment or any activist approach to consumerism, it is worth noting that a lifestyle based on essentials is likely to have multiple benefits for the planet, societies and much more. In this sense, it is important to ask ourselves if we should all start practicing a minimalist life, according to our rhythms of life and possibilities. Surely, simplicity will end up being more profitable for everyone.
You can also watch his documentary on Netflix.
* Author’s Twitter: @surrealindeath
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