The Stuff
Minimalism
Minimalism is a concept I discovered in 2022.
The things we accumulate in this life, we can't take with us. We leave just as we entered. With nothing.
The things we accumulate in between should add value to our lives. They should have their own purpose. And they should bring us happiness. They should not be a burden.
For years, I've been collecting t-shirts from Hard Rock Cafes when I go on holiday.
This started as a way to track where I'd been with a souvenir.
And Hard Rock Cafes are associated with music memorabilia, often displayed on the walls in the restaurants. I'm a big music fan so it appealed to that side of me too.
But it turned into a burden.
I visited a friend in Stockholm last year, and I had to go out of my way to go to the store to buy my t-shirt. I also started buying a hard-rock cafe glass too.
The t-shirts vary in price but in Stockholm, I spent close to £50 on a t-shirt and a glass.
I'd then come home and place the glass on a shelf I put up attached to my wall. The t-shirts when into a frame that I also displayed on my wall.
But the shelf that the glasses sat on accumulated dust. The t-shirts in the frames made my room look busy. They were distractions. And they weren't fulfilling their purposes.
A glass is used to drink from. A t-shirt should be worn. So I removed the glasses from the shelf, and now I have glassware when I move into my future home. I took the t-shirts down from inside the frames and placed them into my wardrobe to wear them.
Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs had small wardrobes so they saved time making choices on what to wear. My version of this is just t-shirts from Hard Rock Cafe.
But I don't need to buy more.
Displaying these items to show off all the places I'd visited became pointless. Who am I trying to impress anyway? Not to portray how much of a loser I am, but nobody sees the inside of my room.
Now the walls are bare, and I have less to distract me.
I focus on what my purpose is. What my priority is? What makes me happy?
My desire for purchases that add little value to my life has lessened.
Desire For Purchases
Every time we make a purchase, we get a small release of endorphins and dopamine.
Instant gratification is addictive.
The rush is addictive.
But delayed gratification is often more rewarding and meaningful.
And we can show all our friends how great we are with our purchases.
We use the purchases to reflect who we are. Or what we want others to think we are.
Any self-control or rationality of whether we really need this purchase or not is clouded by instant gratification.
I used to have a clear-out once a year. I've been on quite a rampage recently, which has turned into a once-a-month clearout for charity.
As I pick up the stuff I've accumulated in my life, some of the key questions I ask myself are thanks to the minimalist books I've read.
Does this item add value to my life?
Does this item fulfil its purpose as intended? If it doesn’t, can I repurpose it so that it does?
Do I use this item at all?
If you answer no to any or all these questions, consider if the desire you felt when you made the purchase was a consequence of seeking out short-term pleasure, not long-term happiness.
If you think you might need this item in the future, can you replace it for less than $20? If the answer is yes, save yourself from the hindrance of the thing and buy it back if you truly need it. Most times, you'll find you don't actually need it.
Sources:
Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Love People, Use Things by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus