trisected

Tag: non minimalism

  • How do you combine interests?

    I’ve been thinking for a long time, how do I make sense of the many interests that I have? There’s so many things to do, and so little time in a day. How do I decide what to do each day, and how do I decide which one takes more priority over the other?

    One of strangest things that might amuse any one who has known me for some time, is actually my avid awareness of Minimalism in my life. Inside me somewhere, is this person who actually wants to have nothing inside my house, and to have only the same set of clothes over and over and over again. It’s a dream. Realistically, this will never happen. Not because I don’t want to, but in that Spark Joy theory from Kon Mari, I find that there too many collections of mine that spark joy. I can be brought back to exact moments where I had gotten something and then it finds a renewed place in my heart.

    But this minimalism framework is one of those preceding the rest. Do I get something that I like for the sake of it? Why do I like what I am getting? Am I getting something purely for the uniqueness, or because I truly like and enjoy it.

    This does mean that I have 3-5 of the same black t-shirt, and maybe about 5-7 kinds of black t-shirts. They range in thickness, in length, in quality, in shade of black, the sleeve length, the neck width. You get the picture.

    But I have also specific unique items that only have one of each. For example, I only have one green khaki pants. I have one light tan khaki, and then I have regular black slacks. These are for occasions that I have to be absolutely formal in, and I’d rather have one pair that I have worn for the past 10 years, than to buy a new pair of pants every time I need it for a formal event. Then to resell, or loan those out after that.

    I think the COVID period has been especially hard, because I have a limited amount of places to wear these items to, and therefore the place of “I will use them when I am in the appropriate place” is missing. Technically, the minimalist during this COVID period would throw away most of not all clothes, because there is no need for travel, and therefore, there is only need for a few things. Shorts might be the most common, because of the amount of time spent at home. Which is also what I have gotten more of in the past year. Two pairs of the same type of shorts, in different colors. But they are very nice and stretchy, and I am enjoying them.

    Time based hobbies start next: What will take the most or the least of my time? And because of time, it is also: Which hobbies can I stack together at the same time? So sometimes I watch a number of shows that I really like, as I fix up keyboards. Sometimes, it’s listening to a podcast as I run, because I love to learn now things.

    Because time is so limited, gaming is something that has really dropped so much in the past few years. I really like gaming, and I wish there were more ways to game. It’s so hard, because it takes time, and it’s a single activity. I can’t stack it, as much as I would like to. But recently, because of Clarice’s involvement in streaming and gaming, I’ve began to start gaming a bit more, and using that single time as a specific time to start relaxing it. Although the game itself might not be relaxing, I am forcing myself to just allocate specific time to one thing, instead of stacking. It is a hard effort, but I think it’s needed as I learn how to rest better.

    All this aside, I try to track my days, and my time. It doesn’t always work out how I think it would, but I do make some attempts to. A lot of the time, things get pushed around. But then I write posts like this, and remind myself not to be so hypocritical. Then I restart some hobbies, or I give more focused time. And that works out for me really great in the end.

    I gotta get started reading again!! Personal reminder for myself as I sign off for now.

  • The Non Minimalistic Life

    There’s always this big whoop over minimalism as a lifestyle. I mean from this blog you’d think that I’d be totally into it too. The whole clean look, simple lines, nothing crazy or bright. Maybe a lot of white, a lot of Muji, whole lot of wood on the floors, the tables, the walls. Then that simple one cup. or one pen. or one book. That’s the minimalism that we really love to glamorise.

    Then the minimalist person is someone who wears a black T-shirt, denim, and white sneakers. They’re all really cleanly washed and looking really fresh. That’s the Minimalist, right?

    And maybe I might be that? I wear black T-shirts and jeans; I wear white shoes; my home has Muji furnishings, and wood; I have that one cup, or pen, or book. I guess the issue would be that I have a lot of these single items, and when I say a lot, I really do mean a lot. I have Muji things, here and there. I have a few pens that I really like. I have a favourite writing book, and I have a few of them. And I wear black T-shirts too, for sure.

    And that’s where my version of minimalism falls apart. I really have one or two types of items that I really like, and they’re multiplied. They cover everything that I like, and they’re exactly what I want it. I really enjoy having a huge amount of black T-shirts, because they’re all the type of T-shirt that I really want. That works really well for me. I also stopped buying a huge range of magazines, instead I have one particular magazine that I buy. I have been buying it for years, so I have the past few years worth of this magazine. It’s not minimalism, but it’s the kind of minimalism that I find myself into.

    I would like to classify myself as a non-minimalist. I’m by no means a maximalist, which goes into that mass extreme of many types of many things. I think my definition of myself in the way that I collect and consider things should still contain that idea that it is minimal, meaning a lot less, but I’m not at the same time, because I have many of that one option.

    If you asked me what kind of T-shirts I have, I would have to tell you that I am limited by black, and white. In recent years, I have been adding to that, because of different T-shirt offerings that I find very interesting. The other colored shirts I have were T-shirts from childhood, that I either have a strong emotional attachment to, and still “sparks joy”, or they are t-shirts that I need to have, because of work. But I do not simply join a trend and buy the hype of a Supreme or BAPE T-shirt. It’s not where I’m at. I’m a minimalist in my approach of colors that I’m choosing.

    So I hope this helps you to get out of the possible shame you might be facing in having a bunch of things. I know I felt really bad having many things, and that I should get rid of it. But after much thought, and personal reflection, I know I have nothing to be ashamed about. Instead, I can be really happy of all the black t-shirts that I have. Because they’re really the best things to wear.