Less is MORE -- My story on learning this valuable lesson
Hello you amazing being you! Happy Friday! I hope you’re having a fantastic day so far.
Today, I’d like to share a story with you all, and reflect on the idea, that LESS, is MORE.
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Over the past few months I have been doing some travelling. I spent about 2 months on Bali, then a month on Koh Phangan, then Bangkok, and then finally, a few days ago, I returned home to Chiang Mai. Over the course of this travel, there was one big lesson that the Universe kept trying to teach me...
The lesson of Minimalism
You see, I have never been very good at packing (but I’m changing this belief!). I always tend to bring WAY too much stuff wherever I go, and yet I still often forget to bring some things that I end up needing. This has been the pattern for years now. Every time it comes to pack for a trip, I delay and delay and delay, because I know the process will not be easy.
This time around, I brought an INSANE amount of luggage with me to Bali. I brought clothes, and toiletries, and art supplies, and crafts, and my work stuff. I brought like 4 pairs of shoes, including boots (who the hell brings boots to a beach?!?!), and way too many sweaters and pants.... Looking, back, it’s ridiculous and comical (and pretty embarrassing)
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On the way to Bali, I was traveling with my partner @yinyangmichael, and he graciously helped me carry some of my bags, which made it seem less insane. But when it came time to leave Bali, he went home to Australia to visit his family, while I headed back to Thailand on my own. Just me and my 5 bags of crap!
When I was packing up I was overwhelmed with how much stuff I had. My mind was racing with questions like: How do I keep making this same mistake, over and over again? and What will it take to actually learn this lesson?
So me and my 5 bags of crap headed the airport. Denpasar to Bangkok, Bangkok to Surat Thani, then Surat Thani airport to a shuttle bus, then to the ferry, and then finally from the ferry to my hotel on Koh Phangan Island. What a journey. It was awful. I looked ridiculous. I felt ridiculous. and I was in a lot of pain carrying around about 45 kg of stuff!
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Then the next day, me and all my stuff had to move from the hotel into the small bungalow I found to live in for the month. So we had yet another journey together.
I was angry at myself, and frustrated, and ready to never make this mistake again. I felt ready to be done with the belief that “I’m a bad packer”. I felt ready to be done with this story and to create a new reality. To create a new pattern, and a new routine and a new belief system and pattern of thinking on this subject.
A few days after arriving in to Koh Phangan, the Universe presented me with a way to lock in this newly learned lesson, in the form of a movie. I watched a short documentary on Netflix called, “Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things”. The film discusses the concept that Less is More. It tells the story of a few minimalists from all walks of life -- artists, entrepreneurs, families, scientists, journalists -- trying to leave meaningful lives with LESS.
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The film shows people living with only the bare essentials, and those living in small spaces like tiny homes. The characters in the film all share a similar story: That when they had more stuff, they were so much more unhappy. That by eliminating their homes of excess crap and stuff, they eliminated stress as well. Many of these people only have the essentials, and only keep things that they LOVE. Less stuff means less decisions to make (What will I wear today? Is a much easier question to answer when you only have a few outfits and you LOVE them all).
The film also discusses consumerism, and how the media plays a role in our lack of minimalism.
”It’s an addiction, really. And we are encouraged to maintain the addiction through technology and information.
--Jesse Jacobs
There is so much crap manufactured today. Most children's toys are absolute JUNK, and there is so much of it, and so many advertisements are geared toward children to make them want all the crap. So it’s starting at such an early age. And the commercials and advertisements and shows on TV today are feeding us this idea that we need to have more, more, more. The latest cell phone, the coolest clothes. So much of typical TV today is filled with movie stars living on 6-figure salaries, driving expensive cars, drenched in diamonds and name-brand purses. It’s no wonder people always want more, or feel like they don’t have enough… The media is feeding our society pure poison.
”American culture has for the most part these blinders on. There’s definitely this illusion of what our lives should look like. Whether its’ advertising or your instagram or facebook feeds. Its this illusion that our lives should be perfect.”
--Shannon Whitehead
Another point made in the film, is how poorly things are made today. Especially in stores like Forever 21 and Zara, who mass produce clothes so quickly, and sell them so cheaply, and they are made to only last a short time, so that you need to go back and buy more, week, after week, after week.
The film also touches on “Black Friday”, which is become a bigger and bigger issue in America every year. People camping outside stores and malls so they can be first inside to get that new flat screen TV on sale, or the latest cell phone/gadget. And then trampling and hurting other people to get their first. It’s literally madness.
“So much of our life is lived in a fog of automatic, habitual behavior. We spend so much time on the hunt, but nothing ever quite does it for us. And we get so caught up in the hunt, that it kind of makes us miserable.”
--Dan Harris
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”I had everything I ever wanted. I had everything I was supposed to have. Everyone around me said, “you’re successful.” But really, I was miserable. There was this gaping void in my life. So I tried to fill that void in the way many people do. With stuff, lots of stuff... I was trying to buy my way to happiness.”
--Ryan Nicodemus
This film had be thinking back to my parents home, where I grew up, and where they have been living for about 30 years now….FILLED with so much junk. There is so much storage space in that home, and over the years we have filled it all. They say that a fish will only grow as big as it’s tank, which I’m seeing to be so true in my life and the lives of many people I know. With more places for storage, I end up accumulating more and more and more stuff and end up feeling trapped and suffocated by it all.
But NO MORE. This time, I am going to make this lesson stick.
Now, I am not planning on becoming a “Minimalist” in the extreme way like the people in the film. I’m not quite ready for that. But it did open my eyes to the heaviness and chaos that comes with having too much stuff. The film was a great mirror for me, reflected what I had been going through the past few days on my travel, and it was a big wake up call.
Since returning to my home in Chiang Mai, I’m slowly going through things. I’m getting rid of bags of clothes and papers and trinkets laying around. I’m going through cupboards and getting rid of anything that doesn’t bring me joy. And when I go visit my family next month in Michigan, I plan on getting rid of almost everything I have stored there. If I haven’t used it in FOUR years, I won’t be using it any time soon!!!!
I know I still have a ways to go, but this is definitely a lesson I am EAGER to learn and put into practice. I truly feel weighed down by my things, and am looking to have LESS things that bring me MORE joy.
It’s really all about non-attachment, and letting go of the power of things. LESS really is MORE. More freedom. More space. More room to breathe. More room to think. Less stress and more joy!
If you have a chance, I highly recommend that you take some time to watch the film “Minimalism”. It’s very entertaining and enlightening, and may give you the courage and push to get rid of some stuff yourself!
Thank you for taking the time to stop by and read my story. I hope you have a beautiful day!
🌈 Rachel
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"Too Much Stuff" - I see it as a mirror for too much emotional baggage. I find when I meditate and release at that level, living lighter in the physical space is easy and comes naturally. Nice post. :)
Yes, I've been meditating on this for some time now. Working on non-attachment and learning to let go more and more each day. But, it's a process, and a journey, not an immediate fix for me. Thanks for reading :)
Minimalism has become quite a trend in the modern world, especially in the design and inner consciousness industries. You'd see many companies designing furniture and houses with a minimalistic design to keep as less detail as possible and focus on the entire look as a whole. Similarly, you'll also find many sites and logos designed minimally. Take a look at the windows logo for example. In Windows XP, the logo was multicoloured with details for shadows, and colours which made it look like a 3D flag waving in the wind. The modern logo is just four uniformly coloured squares at an angle. Minimalism has changed the way we view things.
In the inner consciousness industry, you'll find many people focusing on teachings of minimalism. They aim to take a look at the bigger picture as a whole. This principle is common throughout many forms of this industry including Yoga and Tai Chi. The goal remains common throughout all forms of minimalism: achieve bigger things with the bare essentials without going for more to achieve less.
I've personally been living nomadic lifestyle since I was born as my parents keep shifting every two to three years. I've learned to adopt the principle of minimalism before I even knew what minimalism was. We've learned how to make do with what we have, and take what is absolutely essential, and leave what is not. It is more of an outlook which has found its way in our lives and helps us sift through life quite often without us even realising about it. When you say you'd packed five bags just for one country, I can understand the pain that you went through just to carry all that extra baggage.
Once you start realising the principle behind minimalism, you'll start realising it in your everyday life as well. It'll help you mentally as much as it will help you physically. It's an outlook which will really broaden your horizons and let you make your way through life while being light on your journey. Taking only what is essential puts into perspective what is important, and in turn, it'll help you live a much more meaningful life, simply because you're now not focusing on quantity for meaning, but on the quality which you already have, and the quality you can construct.
I believe that it is upon us humans to live a life of meaning by construction of a sum greater than its wholes. And that is where minimalism helps you out.
Thank you for your time, and good luck on your journey!
absolutely. It's all about quality, not quantity. These have been hard lessons to learn, because I have learned to keep everything and reuse everything that might be of value one day, rather than learned to let things go when they no longer are useful, so it's 28 years of habit that I'm trying to unlearn...but I'm getting there. And I'm at a place now where I know how much freer and fuller and better I feel with less. Less to carry, less to clean, less to deal with. Less is so much more!
And yes, is nice to see a lot of companies taking on this minimalism concept...Hopefully more people will take it on.
Thanks for reading :) :)
Now, that is true. Primarily because it gives you more space to accommodate new things as necessary.
And to be honest, at some level, Quantity does matter. However, I think we've all paid too much mind to quantity and forgotten all about quality. That's just something that we all need to realise, that everything is right in its own place. After all, that is what minimalism is all about.
Everything in its place, and only in its place.
I totally agree with the idea of minimalism. I try to follow this path in my everyday life. Very interesting blog, I will follow and resteem this article :) Have a nice day! 😊