As my friend Colin announced recently, I’m working on something new with him, Josh, and Ryan.
The project itself will be detailed in time, but it’s not revealing too much to say that the similarities between the four of us make sense for this project. We all work online. We all write. We’re all interested in publishing.
The other three chaps also all identify as minimalists.
If you’re fond of stereotypes, you’d probably imagine that I’m a minimalist as well. Young guy. Works online. Location independent. Must be a minimalist, right? It’s the next inevitable step.
And that’s the point.
You shouldn’t be a minimalist because you’ve seen others do it, you should be a minimalist because you really want to be.
As much as I love many things about minimalism, I don’t ascribe to them all. In much the same way, Josh doesn’t feel pushed to travel, even though the stereotype would expect him to do so. And it’s the reason I didn’t dash off to South East Asia the second I left my job – the tropics might be paradise for some, but give me mountains and countryside any day.
Make your life your own, not a facsimile of those you see others living.
Look at those who inspire you, take the elements you admire, and reject the ones that don’t fit.
It’s not expressing your freedom, after all, if you abandon the nine-to-five just to go and live someone else’s idea of the ‘ideal lifestyle’.
Colin, Josh, and Ryan are all passionate about minimalism. They’re not doing it to follow a trend, desperate for the day that they can call off the charade and head for the mall. And, while they all have minimalism in common, they’re also all crafting their own ideal lifestyles that are unique to them in other ways.
Don’t worry about being ‘the next so-and-so’ or imitating others. Draw your own map. Explore your own frontier.