Thoughts on the Minimalism Mindset

This weekend I watched Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things. I was already planning on going through my clothes to downsize my wardrobe for a weekend project, so I figured watching the documentary along with this would motivate me to get rid of more while also getting educated on reducing material needs.

The Minimalists, Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn

The whole concept behind minimalism, according to Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, is “Is this adding value to my life?” As Americans living in a world consumed by capitalism, we are surrounded by greed and the constant mindset that we need to outdo each other with material possessions. However, the common theme with every person throughout the documentary was finding that money does indeed not buy happiness. From tiny homes and small-scale living to buying less and minimizing clothing collections, people had several ways to see what really held value in their lives.

Carver Demonstrating Project 333

Interestingly enough, as I was going through the 27 t-shirts I can’t seem to get rid of, something called Project 333 was brought up. Essentially, a woman named Courtney Carver decided to reduce her wardrobe to 33 items total and wear them for 3 months. She was worried colleagues and peers would notice she re-wore all her clothes and that they would think less of her. However, she found most people didn’t even notice. Although I didn’t limit my clothing and accessories to 33 items yet, I was still inspired to make an effort toward that point.

The minimalist mindset seems like one of the most attainable first steps in sustainability, and to close, I picked two quotes from the documentary that stuck with me and pushed me to work towards a minimalist lifestyle:

“If I had to revise the American dream, it would be more about coming together and community. It would be more about a society which had much less inequality and more fairness in which everybody had a chance; that is responsible toward the planet and our ecosystem. To me, that would be an American dream.”

“Love people and use things, because the opposite never works.”