I’m a six shoe person

Minimalism is way popular now. There are movies, books, websites, blogs, Pinterest boards and Twitter accounts to follow, etc. that have sprung up to extol the virtues of reducing and minimalism and lecture us about the perils of over-consumption. We’ve seen most of them. Generally, they are boring, redundant, and trash. 

Side note #1: Can we discuss the theory of minimalism as it relates to the number of personalities we follow, sites we check, articles and books we read, and shows we watch about minimalism? Seems like there is a touch of irony there. Can we just get one solid source?

Anyway #1: What started as an art movement back in the 60s (I think), the concept of minimalism has been extended now to cover most elements of life. There’s supposed to be a sense of peace that comes over you when you strip down to nothing but owning only that which brings you joy, eliminating that which brings you stress and pain, costs you way too much money, and ends up owning you. 

Side note #2: I also want to discuss how the very nature of minimalism when associated with possessions and consumption is inherently, and grotesquely, privileged in its nature. Imagine being lucky enough to be born into a culture having all you could ever need, your basic needs covered like a motherfucker, with no worries about food, shelter, clothing, etc, that you can consume yourself into a position to intentionally engage in active minimalism simply as a thing to do to bring peace of mind…whatever the hell that is.  

Anyway #2: In just a few short years, we’ve gone from living in a 3000 sqft home with 4 bathrooms, three TVs, closets full of clothes, two cars, 5 bikes, a garage full of tools and lawn maintenance equipment, a ton of outdoor gear, a wine cellar (still kinda miss that one), and everything else you could imagine that is needed or wanted to facilitate that life, to now having everything we own fit in a couple suitcases and a couple backpacks and living in a 234 sqft rental room in Mexico. 

Yeah. Life changes. 

We didn’t look at each other one day and simply say, “Hey, let’s engage in minimalism.” We simply just started to feel the desire simplify our possessions, need less, and therefor own less. And, man, do we own less. We wanted to move, be mobile, strip down what we had been and go adventure for a bit before settling down somewhere else and start to build again. After a while, that movement toward owning less became a constant rather than a trend. Everything we didn’t need we sold, mostly to people who would pay whatever they thought the stuff was worth. 

Now we are on the road. We have reduced to a point where everything we own we can carry with us with minimum baggage fees on the average airline (airline status does have it’s perks when it comes to this, too). After going round and round with what to keep and what to lose as we decided to go the nomad route, it just became clear at every stage that the less we had the less we had to worry about. No house to stress over, no car in storage to pay taxes on or to leak vital fluids, no bikes to get rusty, no books, files, art, or framed photos (all gone digital baby), no excess clothing or linens to get musty, and definitely no storage unit to pay for. We went through packing session followed by liquidation session, followed by packing session followed by liquidation session, and we are down to only what we want, what we need, and a few creature comforts that we have discussed over and over while drinking to insure intellectual honestly…hence the longing for the wine cellar but thankful for including a trusty wine key in our list of necessities. 

What we have left is our foundation point. Everything we need to provide stability and encourage focus as we move forward.

As I said before, it took us almost 5 years of this to get down to where we are now…having everything we own fit in a couple suitcases and a couple backpacks and living in a 234 sqft rental room in Mexico (subtile reminder). 

Hopefully, someday soon-ish but not too soon-ish, we will find a place to settle down and build a new life with some new stuff. Chances are high we will land in a place where houses are smaller, apartments are smaller, cars are smaller or, better yet, not necessary. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get us a good bed, a comfy couch, a well equipped kitchen, and a patio on which we can sit and entertain. Add to that a few basic possessions, some peanut butter and six pair of shoes, and hopefully we’ll be good. One thing is certain, we are definitely over the feeling of attachment to things. Hopefully, what we own will never again own us.

What’s on your list of essentials? Have you thought about it?