Chris Wiegman
One of the first, and most enduring ethical movements I got involved with from minimalism.
To be fair, I wouldn’t even say I got involved with minimalism but that the idea of having less is something that has appealed to me my entire life. Even when I was a child my parents called me the “anti-packrat” as I was easily annoyed with any situation where I was surrounded by things I didn’t need. Even today I believe my favorite living situation was probably the college dorms as they functioned as a community where we all did a lot while having very little.
That said, trying to implement the ideas of minimalism into my adult life have been almost impossible. In our house, for example, every surface must be covered with stuff at all times. Every shelf, drawer, cabinet and every nook and cranny must be stuffed to capacity and, even if it is stuff we will never touch, almost nothing can be gotten rid of.
I think about this situation often. Every time I look for something in a pile of stuff we’ll never touch I dream of just purging almost everything and starting over but, alas, I know that is never going to happen.
Today I realize that the idea of minimalism as a lifestyle is impossible for me to pursue and that makes me incredibly depressed. Where did I go so wrong that I needed 1/2 the stuff I have?