—Systemic change begins with personal change—
In Joshua's words, from his page, Becoming Minimalist:
My story begins in suburban Vermont while I was cleaning the garage, my wife was cleaning the bathrooms, and my 5-year old son was playing alone in the backyard. I struck up a regular conversation with my neighbor who commented, “Maybe you don’t need to own all this stuff.â€
The juxtaposition was striking. My possessions piled up in the driveway… my son in the backyard… my day slipping away… I immediately recognized something needed to change. My belongings were not adding value to my life. Instead, they were subtracting from it.
My family and I began donating, recycling, and removing our unnecessary personal possessions. We embarked on an intentional journey to own less stuff.
As a result, we discovered more money, more time, more energy, more freedom, less stress, and more opportunity to pursue our greatest passions: faith, family, friends. And we decided to write about it.
Becoming Minimalist quickly became a place to encourage others to embrace minimalism. It does not boldly require anyone to become minimalist overnight—nor does it specifically define the word for you. Instead, it encourages each reader to discover their own journey and the far-reaching benefits that come from owning less.
We are dedicated to rational minimalism and discovering what that uniquely means for us. And the more who are introduced to this life-changing message, the better! Because we’re all just trying to make the most of this journey called life.
Get introduced to our simple message by reading some of our most popular posts:
Or, to discover the importance of owning less, try one of these posts:
We learned quickly that our journey to live with less on the outside would force our attention inward:
And would be entirely unique because of our life’s values:
If you really can’t get enough, browse our most popular articles. But be warned, there’s a bunch of information there.
I've recorded a few posts about how what many people call minimalism is really more maximal. From the outside it looks like minimizing stuff.d People who practice it, as I see it, don't focus on stuff. Getting rid of it is a means to an end. The end is more emotion, relationships, and connection---family, community, faith, and other things that bring meaning, which people prefer more of. They maximize those things. Joshua Becker stands out as one of the main figures in that world. Millions of people have read his blog and books and taken his courses to do just those things. In this episode we talk about how he started and perspectives that help. We talk about family, god, the bible, my first love, seminal moments in his life, and more. Why not get personal? Since this conversation, I read his book. People had already called me minimalist, but his book led me to find more material impediments to living by my values. I've gotten rid of more things, including the letters I talked to him about, which I wrote about here in Thoughts on reading my love letters to my high school girlfriend after 30 years and Update on the love letters with my high school girlfriend. No matter how much you learn and practice in maximalizing your life, you can always learn more, in my experience at least. Here's my review of his book The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own: Makes simplifying and minimizing simple, accessible, and meaningful I've you've thought about reducing your stuff and wondered about the freedom you know it will bring, this book will help you start. Getting rid of stuff doesn't have to be hard, but it often seems that way. People love Joshua Becker's book because it makes the process simple, accessible, and meaningful. People already describe me as minimalist, though I've thought I have too much. By the second chapter, this book helped me find another level of stuff. Getting rid of it is like a breath of fresh air. On finishing the book, I'm planning to start a non-profit I've meant to. I'm not sure I'll get to it, but just thinking about it is a better life than worrying about stuff I don't need. Joshua's personal stories, especially the opening one realizing his garage junk kept him from his son, make it personal.