As a part of my quarter life crisis I have been reading up a lot on minimalism lately, and something is definitely resonating. The vogue forum thread on minimalism (see it here) has really sparked my interest in this new wave of living simply which is apparently sprouting up all around, especially on the blogosphere (see here, here and here).
Now I am sure most of you are aware what living minimally contains – and although I will never be someone who can give up their TV, or live without make up, I am finding so many of the truths of minimalism inspiring:
- Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful - William Morris
- There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little - Jackie French Koller
- Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you - Lao Tzu
- The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less – Socrates
I have managed to get a start on having less, firstly by unsubscribing to the million of emails I get daily with sales, decluttering my google reader feed, and having a massive wardrobe cull. So I am slowly taking steps to make my life more minimal.
Now the major problem I am facing with embracing this well and truly is my career. I studied and currently work in marketing – the art of selling people things they don’t need – and this is direct conflict with the above. I don’t think I could ever embrace the minimalistic lifestyle without abandoning what I do, at least in a commercial sense. I have begun to search for other ways my skills could be useful – perhaps marketing for a not for profit – but until that perfect job crops up, I am going to have an internal dilemma going on…
Are any of you on a decluttering/minimalism journey? What are your roadblocks?
