Empowerment & Minimalism
Oh! A free online course ! Let me sign up, never watch it and receive their daily marketing emails instead!
I just unsubscribed from a dozen different newsletters that I usually simply delete, only to receive the same one again the next day. Do those marketing strategies really work for anyone?! Do people actually buy?!
Anyway it was very satisfying and freeing to hit that unsubscribe button and I get the same satisfaction from decluttering my cupboards!
It made me think of my family I visited over the weekend. Gen X doesn’t like to declutter so much. Gen X’s definition of success: acquiring as many things as possible without EVER throwing/giving something out/away. The result: a lot of stuff taking mental and basement space.
I’m a Millennial. Luckily I learnt about decluttering with Marie Kondo and her ‘keep the things that bring you joy’ motto. Additionally I learned not to acquire too much in the first place with the minimalist and slow living movements, because what’s the point to acquire things I’ll have to get rid of again at some point?! The more I declutter, the more I want to declutter and the less I want stuff. It’s a virtuous circle that feels very empowering!
Plus I have another value system and other priorities than the generations prior. I value experiences more than things. Don’t get me wrong I love beautiful clothes and deco objects but traveling comes first.
Watching ‘How to get rich’ on Netflix, reminded me that often the things we want, we want them to fulfill an emotional void, lack from our childhood or due to traumatic events or conditioning. So when we take care of our emotions and do the inner work, we can let go of those ‘things’ we think we want and live more freely and more empowered.
True fulfillment comes from within.
Last but not least, my Dad was asking me a question he had the answer to already: is consuming an activity? We were at the Mall and I was overwhelmed from all the lights, colors, smells, music, choices, people, etc. I felt like a girl from the countryside which I’m not, I live in the city but never go to those places because it’s too much for my senses and shopping is not my hobby (anymore). I buy something when I need it not because I don’t have anything else to do on a Saturday afternoon.
As an answer, I told him what my husband always says: if people would create more, they would consume less.
When you create you don’t feel like consuming as much or at all because the act of creating is very fulfilling. I notice it myself, I feel very content after writing or doing a Podcast and I don’t need sugar or new sneakers - only coffee :P
But I also understand (because I have been there) that a) people work hard and are completely depleted from their 9 to 5 and that doesn’t leave much energy for creating or even thinking about creating something and it’s much easier to ‘simply consume’ and b) when we work ‘hard’ at most of the time something we don’t even like, we feel like rewarding ourselves. It’s our reward for working so hard or as I would put it: for doing something we don’t enjoy that much. It’s kind of a reward for the sacrifice.
So what can we do for issues a) & b) ?
I don’t have a one line solution for that, not even one paragraph. My solution would include conscious choices, recognizing patterns and beliefs, digging into childhood and conditioning, setting boundaries, creating space for the things that really matter and know what does in the first place.
On Sunday, Louise and I will do a Podcast about that last theme ‘what do you want?’. This may help you find more clarity. And as always if you want help with any of the things I wrote, I’d be more than happy to help out in a 1:1!
My key points:
Unsubscribe, unfollow, delete, declutter. It creates mental space. Creating space will help you know where you actually want to go and get there.
Know what you value. Not what the generation prior valued, not what your neighbor values. What YOU value, what is important to YOU.
It is empowering to declutter and to consume less.
It’s important to notice when we consume from a place of lack and a place of reward from not doing something we enjoy and ideally start to change that step by step.
We need to do the inner work always.
More creating less consuming.
