Minimalism After Thoughts

Documentary on Netflix, book as well.

 This weekend I watched Minimalism on Netflix. It was a documentary centered around the two founders of minimalism and how it has affected their lives. The documentary begins the explanation of consumerism and how over the past 100 years it has gotten completely out of control.

The documentary mainly focuses on the psychological benefits of living a minimalist lifestyle. For example, feeling like you have purpose and control over your life because the things that are in your space are not just for clutter but for a purpose. It creates a community being able to ask others for help with things instead of just going out to buy it. For example, a pregnant woman who practices this lifestyle needed a formal dress and instead of going out and buying one, she asked her girlfriends if she could borrow one.

It touched a little bit about the ecological costs of over consumption which including burning of coal, use of natural gas. Also the social injustices such as sweat shops in order to dodge labor costs and so on.

Borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbor

The one thing I enjoyed about this documentary was it is not again consumerism and it understands that the way to fix these issues is not by telling everyone to stop buying things. Instead it discourages "compulsory consumerism" which means buying things because that's what you ought to do, that's what it means to have made it and attained the American Dream. Instead ask yourself " Does this thing bring value to my life?" The movie understands that this looks different for everyone and therefore can be applied accordingly. Another interesting thing they mentioned was the use of space in American homes and how places like the dinning room aren't fully used and therefore end up being a waste of space. Coming from a country that is founded in community this was interesting to watch and see people live the way I remember living back home and learning to count on each other.

The psychological need to grow and continue grow is discussed just as it was in Eaarth. How marketing manipulates that need is very impressive and daunting what it has been able to make people do for years. So if you are interested in living in another way and want to contribute to a sustainable system, this is an important documentary to watch.

Use of space in American homes. Visit lifeedited.com