My buddy Tadd told me about this thing called minimalism last week. I have never been what we call a minimalist, turns out, I have always been a maximalist. Oh that is on sale and fits in the budget, buy. Oh that is free and I could potentially use it someday, ill get it. Not anymore!!! I am no longer going to fall prey to good deals or free things, just because they are that. I will get what I need, when I need it.
Tadd who turned me on to this, used to be one of the biggest maximalists I knew, he had around 50 vehicles/motorcycles. He started down the road of minimalism and is in the process of getting rid of everything. Since it was coming from him, I decided to check it out. I started with a book called “Goodbye, Things” by Fumio Sasaki. I loved it, he made so many valid points while I was listening to him. As he was talking, he was describing my life and what I do when it comes to acquiring items. I told Sam all about it when I got home and we started cleaning house! We started getting rid of everything we do not use or do not like. We were able to clean out our room, get rid of half of our wardrobe, get rid of over half our kitchen supplies, and a whole lot more. We have been continuously getting rid of stuff for a week now.
I loved Fumio Sasaki’s information because it is about getting rid of stuff to enjoy life more. By getting rid of things, you lose your materialistic mindset and quit comparing what you have to everyone else. This allows you to be free in how you view yourself compared to others. He also talks about minimalizing things but maximizing life experiences, with people you enjoy experiencing it with. It is a phenomenal book and I will definitely listen to it again.
Next, I started listening to “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” by Marie Kondo. I have about 2 hours left to listen to this book. I had no idea who Marie Kondo was until I searched minimalism in Audible. Sam was quite upset with me for not knowing who Marie Kondo is, apparently, when Covid happened, there were a lot of TikToks about people going through their things to see if it sparks joy. However, I am not a user of the TikTok, so I had no idea this was a phenomenon.
Come to find out, I sure do like Marie Kondo’s method of if it sparks joy. It has me thinking about so many things I have and how the majority of them do not bring me joy. I honestly just own them to own them, I do not necessarily need most of them, I just have them. So, now I am combining Marie’s philosophy of if it brings me joy and Fumio’s saying goodbye to things to continue minimalizing. I will not get out of hand and get rid of all of my possessions, but I will get rid of a lot of the things that do not bring me joy, take up extra space, and things I do not need.
I love trying new things and researching new topics because it brings me to things like this. I am learning that I do not need materialistic things to make me happy. It is actually quite the contrary. I will still keep things like cool cars because they have always brought me joy and I believe it will continue to be one of the number one things I receive joy from. However, I will be able to get rid of a lot of stuff I thought I needed but really do not. I will keep you guys updated on how my minimalist journey goes! If this is something you are interested in, read or listen to the books mentioned above.
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-Shaun Tutor
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