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zebra2  ·  3972 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Why the minimalists do what they do

I'm not a minimalist, but minimalism is very alluring to me, though not at all for the reasons the author writes about. He feels anxiety over having so many options that he's worried he won't choose the best one? What an absurd sentiment. How does choosing to limit yourself to one option fix that? If anything it makes it worse. The source of his anxiety lies in misplaced values. His version of minimalism is basically putting those misplaced values on a pedestal.

For me, the appeal of minimalism is in less clutter. The feeling really sunk in the first time I moved out of my apartment on my own and realized I had a metric fuckton of shit to move. I'd like to know that, if I wanted to, I could pack up and move all my things in a single car off to wherever. Not to mention having all that stuff cramps my living space. Things become disorganized easily, space gets absorbed, my house gets ugly, etc. etc.. I fret about tossing things, but most things I could toss and never miss them. There's definite zen in not having material things to worry about.