We're All on a Treadmill, but We're Not Exercising

Day 1: Stay Offline 1 Day
Our lives are so absorbed in the technological stratosphere.  The daydreaming clouds that our time used to be absorbed by is now increasingly being replaced by a different kind of cloud that houses photos, videos, blogs (oops), profiles, and other information from our friends and relatives (that we slowly begin to envy over time).  This technological daydream also houses the same data from celebrities and other people we already admire and envy for their money, success, and seemingly "prefect" lives.  One book that I read for my Politics of Consumption class (Shiney Objects: Why We Spend Money We Don't Have in Search of Happiness We Can't Buy by James Roberts) explains that our personal *reference group has been steadily outgrowing our classic neighborhood realm and moving on to people we have never met or seen in real life.  Celebrities are the average person's new reference group.  And this explains the dissatisfaction some people feel.  We do not have the money or resources to live lives like celebrities do.

Minimalism claims that we do not need to even try. (More later)

*Reference Group - people to which one compares their financial and personal success to and strives to match in material status.

Day 2: Meditate 15 Minutes
15 minutes is a long darn time.

 I:

• checked the time twice.  Once at 11:11 to go (make a wish), and once at 7:38 to go.
• I opened my eyes 7 times.

I seriously challenge you all to try this.  For 15 minutes, sit and try not to think about anything but your breathing. It is unbelievable how quickly (hardly 5 minutes, for me) your brain panics because you aren't doing anything.  You're not trying to sleep and you're not working on anything.... so what ARE you doing? 

Practicing mindfulness. Which is just a high-falootin word for be present and taking care of yourself. Taking a thoughtful break. Why is it important to do this? To be "mindful?"

In my opening post, I mentioned that the average American works very very hard to acquire money that our TV tells us how to spend when we get home, only to work harder and crash harder and spend more and work more. This trend that many of us fall into is known as the "consumer treadmill." The cycle where we are repeatedly told that we do not have enough.  That we can be happy, pretty, skinny, powerful, liked, successful, respected, if we just have           ?         .

Minimalism is one sort of response to this work, watch, spend, repeat cycle.

"Minimalism is a lifestyle that helps people question what things add value to their lives. By clearing the clutter from life’s path, we can all make room for the most important aspects of life: health, relationships, passion, growth, and contribution.

There are many flavors of minimalism: a 20-year-old single guy’s minimalist lifestyle looks different from a 45-year-old mother’s minimalist lifestyle. Even though everyone embraces minimalism differently, each path leads to the same place: a life with more time, more money, and more freedom to live a more meaningful life."

Minimalism, and Elevator Pitch (The Minimalists)

Day 3: Declutter Digital Life
 For this day I went through my computer downloads folder (where I had about 5 or 6 downloads of online school assignments) and got rid of practically everything.  What was important to keep I moved elsewhere.  It is nice to get RID of extra, as though the possessions I have are a weight.

Anyone who has done cleaning of any kind understands the emotional reward and renewal.  The literal "starting clean" metaphor is strikingly obvious.  But the thing is: we have so much stuff that we clean and clean and organize and move and revamp and a significant amount of our time and effort is absorbed in this physical reshuffling of all of our possessions.

So what if we only kept what was what we actually needed? How much easier would it be for me to move out of my dorm back home and  then into another dorm and then again into an apartment over the course of the summer?

Did digital decluttering make me feel as good and physical decluttering and ridding would? No. I'm a pretty visual and environmentally oriented person, and ,frankly, my computer folders are relatively tidy to begin with. I'm looking forward to Day 9 and 13.