Experientialism. That’s my guess anyway.
The Minimalism movement came from society’s need to be less overwhelmed. Everyone’s reasons for being overwhelmed included but wasn’t limited to having too much stuff. Also, everyone’s reason for welcoming minimalism was because they wanted to have a richer life experience.
This is why I suspect that minimalism is moving to experientialism. Now, this may never be the Google buzzword for it. Everyone’s values are different and what they consider a worthwhile experience is different. However, more people struggle with creating their ideal experiences within their current means.
Overbuying material goods is often a manifestation that things could make you feel better. Something is missing. Without knowing what that something is or an easy way to fill that need, buying things was the easier fix.
The Challenge:
When you finish decluttering your stuff and your time, you’re faced with actually having to do the thing you decluttered everything for. If you wanted time to write, you now have to write. If you wanted more time for “quality time” with your family, you now have to figure out what quality time is.
On top of starting to do what you wanted to do, you also have to figure out how to do what you wanted to do. This creates an individual problem and more divided subcategories.
Why trends are coupled:
This is one reason why minimalism and budgeting and frugal living and meal planning and easy cleaning and DIY trends go together. They are all about creating more financial resources to do what you want to do with your time and money.
When are you done with minimalism?
Well…hopefully never, but you will and should transition from decluttering into doing the things you’d wanted to do with your time. I’ve been in a few Facebook groups where people seem to be so concerned with getting rid of things that they are doing it at a detriment to themselves and their relationships. The point wasn’t to transition your obsessional thinking from stuff to getting rid of stuff. That’s obviously not sustainable.
What happens after you get rid of all your stuff?
Okay seriously, anyone at all familiar with the movement recognizes that minimalism is more about recognizing and honoring your own values. Still, it’s easier to latch onto a project that allows you to avoid putting yourself out into the world through our art or our relationships, or even social comfort.
Who hasn’t tried to work out per the medical industry’s advice and discovered that you’d rather watch YouTube videos about pointless topics such as “Is minimalism dead?”. Yes. Definitely. Additionally, just because you have the time doesn’t mean that you can practice ballet or saxophone for 8 hours each day. I used to practice more than all my classmates and it cost me. I had sores all the time. I literally bled for my hobby.
The point is, there are physical limitations as well as financial limitations to most goals. Love traveling? Have you decluttered all your items so you can have a spa week in a luxury hotel that isn’t cluttered with people? Me too. I don’t have the thousands of dollars nor the time off for that.
What is your goal on a more fundamental level?
Sometimes, we’ve decluttered everything so we can get back to an old favorite hobby. It may work perfectly or you may discover you actually avoid it…always. The base goal here is likely to express yourself creatively. In fact, this is what drives people’s feelings of connection and purpose.
We may not know what activity creates that sense of purpose but what we’re seeking is the opportunity to find purpose. Unfortunately, that’s how we got a lot of that stuff in the first place. It may not have even been our search for purpose, it may have been a loved one’s search for purpose.
Why do we avoid doing the things we intended to do?
We have many excuses. “I don’t have enough time”. Sound familiar? So now that we don’t have things blocking our time…what are you doing with it? Me, I’m watching YouTube. I guess I’m also writing to all of you…12 never returning guests. Welcome!
Why do I watch YouTube? I’ve always been interested in learning skills. Why? Probably to find purpose. I also enjoy puzzles, but that’s a skill too.
It takes a while to know if something new is worth continuing, much less your purpose. I’ve done a lot of things and none of them felt like my purpose. However, I’ve learned things from those that I take with me on every path I take.
It might be more important to know when to give something up. You can’t make these decisions in a vacuum. We do rely on feedback from the world on what we are good at or if we are progressing fast enough. Of course, we should prioritize the feedback from ourselves. If you are good at something but hate it or aren’t interested, you should move on. For me, this was Chemistry. I don’t care, but it’s easy or was.
My interests:
For me, there are three significant things that stood out. The first was music, particularly saxophone. It wouldn’t have mattered much which instrument, I imagine. I loved it. I recognized that it wasn’t as much natural talent as skilled practice. Music is like math and puzzles rolled together in creative expression. I loved it. Art is something that others always commented on but it felt “normal” to me.
The second thing was poetry. I think I loved hiding the blunt reality in metaphor. It lets me express myself in a way that was almost a secret language. The specifics are hidden but the emotion of the experience is bold. This is sort of what I like in fashion as well.
The third thing was computer programming. These are probably weird mixes of hobbies and interests. Programming was so natural to me. Additionally, it’s problem-solving.
The car accident made two of these things very difficult. Concentrating on text that’s backlit by a computer screen is incredibly taxing on my brain so I can’t sit for hours and hours like I used to. Additionally, I don’t think as clearly. Thinking procedurally does help me cope with some of the cognitive issues caused by the TBI though.
The accident also injured my neck, which has impacted saxophone specifically. I also now have chronic migraine and sitting in front of the brass section is unbearable. My time with saxophone may be over for good.
Poetry is just something I forgot about. It phased out, I suppose, as I leaned into the technical side of my life, which saxophone was for me as well. I journaled a lot and frequently but I didn’t write it into poetry. All the academic English classes spend very little time on poetry and while they appreciate “voice” they don’t really allow for much creativity in the assignments.
How can we move into a more intentional future?
It’s unrealistic to know what the world is going to value as we first explore and get back into things we loved. We are different people. We’ve been through minimalism!
No really. We evaluated ourselves, society, our expectations of ourselves and others. We are stronger, smarter, and more capable individuals than we were before we embarked on our first Konmari project! We now know that we weren’t getting the JOY we expected those things to bring us.
So with a new you and a new purpose, we will be different people with different expressions of our unique experiences with minimalism. Thank all the minimalist influencers that brought you through that movement. We have clearer images of who we are as individuals.
Now we need to do things. Express this new version of yourself. Share it. Find community not with minimalism but with the medium you choose to express yourself with.
You don’t have to leave your minimalism groups. However, it’s time to spend less time there and more time in the spaces that will advance your expression to the world! Be more of you, louder, prouder, and with the same problem solving, creative, and strong version of yourself that brought you through minimizing your belongings and your stress. Be Brave!
As a gesture of boldness, here is a poem I wrote years ago and polished up a bit just for you. This poem is titled “Purpose”.
