Some of us recognize the word minimalism as a home décor or fashion trend that involves less stuff. But the minimalism movement, currently being promoted by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus is about much more than just paring down, it is about living a deliberate, intentional life with less physical things and more time to seek out happiness. Their elevator pitch sums up the concept quite nicely.
Ryan and Joshua are currently on tour promoting their new book, Everything That Remains, which is the story of their discovery of minimalism and how they applied it to their lives. They are currently touring the world and will be in Vancouver on August 1st to talk about their book, minimalism, and give out free hugs (yes, please).
In the lead up to their Vancouver event, I sat down with Ryan—who is also my mentor (and has guided me through a lot of big changes through my life) to talk about how he approaches living a minimalist, deliberate life.
Alexandra: Vancouver is the second most expensive city in the world to buy property when comparing prices to average salary. The average annual mortgage payments are almost 90% of the average annual salary. As a result, a lot of Vancouverites make a lot of sacrifices to live in the city. Many people ask themselves if it is worth it.
Ryan: Is it worth it? That is a highly individual answer. For me, it’s not worth it to deprive myself of other things to live in a bigger city. People need to consider what they need to give up to live in a place like Vancouver. They should be able to look in the mirror and think “I’d rather be in this really cool city and have all these great things at my disposable, rather than work less and go on holiday more.” When you live somewhere like Vancouver, you don’t have as much disposable income—so living more deliberately is important for someone who lives in an expensive city.
Alexandra: Your book, Everything That Remains, is the story of your journey and transformations from having discovered minimalism. What kind of transformations have you seen by the people that you meet who have embraced minimalism? Any inspiring stories recently, maybe from this tour?
Ryan: There was a woman who was very low income and her son lived with her and she had other kids and grandkids. From the community of minimalists and applying minimalism to her life, she was able to get the courage and permission to go to her family and say “I’m not buying you anything for holidays anymore unless you really, really need it. And if you really, really need something, ask me for it and I will give it to you. Instead, I would like to have a nice dinner, I would like us to spend more time together, and we can take a vacation every few years.” And her family was really receptive to it, there was hardly any push back at all, and they enjoyed the idea and it brought her and her family closer together through accumulating more experiences. I have a million stories similar to those, where people really turn things around in their lives, by living more deliberately, by choosing experiences over stuff, by spending half as much money on the people they love and twice as much time. That’s why we are on the road.
Alexandra: I know the “stuff” is an important part of minimalism—primarily reducing the amount of it in your life. But the spiritual side is another angle—making decisions about life. Does it go hand in hand with getting rid of stuff, or does one come first?
Ryan: I think we all need some type of source to motivate ourselves, whether it is spiritual, or mediation. My source is based on the 5 areas we wrote about in Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life. Anytime I feel out of balance, I focus on these five areas. Health—when I am unhealthy, I am depressed. Relationships: I’ve got to look at my community of people I hang out with, we are who we hang out with. Cultivating a passion: I have to do things for myself. Luckily I am able to mix work with what I am passionate about. The last two things go hand in hand: growth and contribution: we all have the desire to grow and I find that I grow the most when I contribute beyond myself in a meaningful way. Anytime I feel any type of unrest, I look at those five areas and see where I am lacking. Really, I am as strong as the weakest link in that chain. Minimalism helped me to come to that conclusion and figure out what did make me happy.
Alexandra: Ryan, I know you and I have touched on this a bit when we have spoken in the past, but I’d like to talk a little about the positive environmental impact of minimalism. While it might be a side effect of embracing minimalism, I feel like it is so much more than that, especially for those of us that love fashion and are very considerate about our clothing choices. There has been a huge backlash against fast fashion retailers that produce under questionable working conditions and who encourage us to buy new fashion items at an alarming rate. Is this something that you address, and have you noticed people talking about it and what do you think about the environmental side.
Ryan: In addition to what you already talked about—the side effects, we haven’t dug much deeper. I certainly have it on my mind, a lot. I wouldn’t consider myself an eco warrior, I’m not saying I will never be that way, but since the journey of minimalism began, I notice a lot more of my impact on the environment and I can definitely do a better job. I do plan on actively on going down that road even more. People bring it up all the time at our events, at almost every single event. I would really like to start writing more about minimalism and the impact it can have on the environment but I have to first get more knowledge in that area, and I want to show people how they can do it and not only does it help the environment but also show them the benefits and the values for themselves.
Alexandra: I’ve heard of people saying “minimalism is for rich people who throw away everything and then buy new stuff when they need it.” How do you convince someone that this isn’t just some lifestyle trend?
Ryan: Here’s what I’ll say—rich people and poor people, they all dies of the same things. When you look at the statistics, the average North America home has 300,000 items in it. A recent study by the bureau of labour and statistics showed that poor people have access to a lot of the same good that rich people have access to. Computers, smart phones, TVs, fashionable clothing, so I would say, rich or poor, we are still being overtaken by stuff, and our lives are based around consumption. For poor people, minimalism is even more important, because they have fewer resources. Minimalism helps people live more deliberately. I grew up poor, and I thought rich was going to make me happy. But when I was rich, I was still poor. Even though I made good money, I still spent more money. We grew up poor because we were consistently making bad decisions, and I continued to make those bad decisions throughout our twenties. That is where minimalism really helped me out—I decided wasn’t going to get myself in debt, I won’t live beyond my means, and if I own less things I won’t have to work 80 hours a week to maintain this lifestyle.
The Minimalists are in Vancouver on Friday, to find out about their event, check out their website. —Alexandra Suhner Isenberg
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