While I can't say I'm ready to go to the same extent as these people have done, there is definitely merit in what they are doing.
There's a new breed of 20-something's out there and they're calling themselves minimalists - meaning, they live with as few material possessions as possible - and they're finding their new way of lives (which is not really new but just reinvented) quite freeing. Remember back when we were kids and toddlers? When the cardboard box a gift came in was equally as entertaining as the gift itself? When we played kick the can, hop scotch and jumped rope to keep busy? There were no video games (unless you count the infamous Atari Pong!) and satellite dishes or computers to occupy our minds. We didn't have motorized Barbie cars or space aged infant gadgets to keep us continually amused and stimulated. We found our own fun - and did we suffer for it? I don't think so.
So what this generation is undertaking is not really new, it's just an attempt to return to simpler times where life was less about material possessions and more about the things that really matter. Who can fault this younger generation for that?
Two years ago, Dave Bruno started a blog about his "100 Thing Challenge." His goal was to whittle down his possessions to a list of 100 things and maintain that number for a year. Since attaining his goal, Bruno's project has spawned copycats in the last two years, particularly as commodities like books, CDs and DVDs become more available digitally. Each minimalist creates his or her own rules, often with exemptions, but each signal a shift away from the consumer culture. It took two years, but Nina Yau can now fit everything she owns into a car trunk, packed in a duffel bag and two suitcases. Her one-bedroom Chicago apartment is completely empty, apart from a few kitchen utensils and a mat she sleeps on, on the floor. "The hardest part was making the decision to sell," she says. "I realized that, hey, if I'm not using it, why keep it around?"
Again, I can't see myself going that far, but a step in that direction wouldn't hurt. Christmas is fast approaching. Families will begin to feel the pressure as the commercialism steps it up a notch. But do we really need to overflow the bottom of the Christmas tree with gifts - just because? Is it really necessary to rack up the credit card to keep little Johnny happy?
Somewhere there has to be a happy medium and I suppose it's up to each of us (if we're interested in simplifying things that is) to find it.
