Less is More

by Lottie Allen

In a society dictated by consumerism; the land of milk and honey. A place for prosperity, searching for our own ‘american dream’: the white picket fence, large suburban house, luxury car, the flashiest possessions, and the six-figure salary all associated with success. We have seen young individuals skip to fame and become internet sensations - near enough - overnight. Then, we are fed their carefully curated lives plastered on social media and overwhelmed by our throw-away society that demands everyone has the latest trends; the basis that the fast fashion industry was built on. But do we really need all of these material objects, or should we consider being more minimalistic?

So, what is minimalism? It’s simple really: to be a minimalist you can’t own any more than 100 things at a time, you can’t own a car or a television and a house is strongly advised against (if you do own a house, it must be a small white room with no windows, furniture or pictures!), you can’t have a career, you can’t ever buy anything new, you must become a full-time backpacker, you must have a blog, you must only take black & white photographs and you must come from a privileged background.

I’m joking, of course. Although, on a number of occasions, friends and family members have used these ‘restrictions’ to explain why they could ‘never be a minimalist’. Those are some of the misconceptions of minimalism. It is not about deprivation but rather about intentionality: being mindful of yourself and your impact; landfill and pollution. I’m not saying that owning material possessions is inherently wrong - the problem is when we give material possessions meaning beyond their use, or when we are enticed into purchasing items we neither want or need. For example: how often do you go on that shopping trip for one specific item and come back with three ‘bargains’ that you might only wear once? Or worse, never!

Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of the excess in favor of more important matters — to find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom. It is a tool which we can incorporate into our lives to be deliberate; to help us find time for our passions, growth, health, and relationships. As Joshua Fields Millburn in the Netflix documentary, ‘Imagine a life with less: less stuff, less clutter, less stress, and debt, and discontent.’ The idea of minimalism is not only to be environmentally conscious but to help yourself, especially if you are living paycheck to paycheck.

You might be thinking: well, that sounds great but how do I actually achieve that? It starts with you. I found that sorting through my things (which is still an ongoing process) and asking the question: ‘do I get value from this?’ or ‘will I ever use or wear this?’ have helped me to limit my consumption. If you were to log everything you own, would there be things you’d be content to live without? How much clutter do you really have in your life? Donating, gifting to friends, or selling are all rewarding in themselves and probably give you more value than the items themselves ever did.