Jeremy C Kester

It started with my going down the rabbit-hole on YouTube with TedX talks. A few were nice, but it was one that struck me. It was a talk by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus of The Minimalists. Now, partly due to my watching this video, I am in the midst of a purge. At least another stage of one in a manner of speaking.

Some time ago in the not-too-distant-past, my wife and I began gutting out a lot of things from our home. We found that we had a lot of junk that was preventing us from creating space for a home gym. That exercise (pun intended) probably had a lot to do in fostering the eventual mental shift that has eventually led me to minimalism.

We had already started asking ourselves the questions of “do we need this?” both for things we had and now for things we are looking to buy. But beyond that initial pursuit, I haven’t pushed myself to purge material possessions from my life, things I don’t need or that do not in some way bring me joy. Today, that has all changed.

This week, I will be spending at least some of my time getting rid of things. Downsizing. Granted, I personally don’t have a great deal of things that are strictly mine, but nonetheless I plan to make sure that I reduce that anyway.

See, the message that I have picked up from minimalism is: replace material things with having time and energy for family and friends. For life. It is amazing how much energy possessions take up, even when they are just tucked away in an attic. And the things I possess are not as important as my son. My wife. My family, friends, or even Logan the Fish (aka Fishyface), the little carnival goldfish who’s defied the odds to live 3 years and counting on our kitchen counter since bringing he/she home from the carnival. They are the things I need to put my energy into. (And writing of course.)