- Life is a mess, and according to social media,
minimalism is the cure.
Is that true?
Let's find out if minimalism can help fix your...
Self awareness.
(bright music)
Thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this video.
Earlier this year, Sabrina tried bullet journaling
to get her life together.
I've tried bullet journaling, in my little journal here,
but it didn't exactly fix my problem.
I became a cliche and stopped using my journal every day,
as soon as March hit.
I'm probably not alone in this,
but I just feel busy all the time.
Like there isn't enough time to be off.
I guess I just lost a sense of direction.
There's too much too much clutter.
And this is where I think minimalism can help me
find some clarity by just doing less overall.
There's just one problem, I am far from minimalist.
This is my room. (upbeat music)
So I've got a long journey ahead of me,
and I want you to join me.
So in this video, let's figure out what minimalism is,
and if it can actually help us get our (beep) together.
But first research montage time.
So interestingly, I found that there's more
than one type of minimalism, a lot more actually.
And each type focuses on a different
aspect of life to minimize that
you can make room for something else.
And I found some similarities between some
and I grouped them into five broad categories.
So this is what we're gonna do,
well, what I'm gonna do.
Each day is gonna be dedicated
to a different species of minimalism.
We'll take a look at where they came from,
and then do a challenge that best reflects
the core philosophy of that day.
So that is aesthetic minimalism, digital minimalism,
experientialism, environmental minimalism,
and mindful minimalism.
We are going to minimalize my life
until hopefully, I am nothing.
Let's do this thing.
Let's start with the origin of minimalism.
So it began as an art movement in 1960s, New York,
challenging the idea of what art could be
by removing the concept of expression.
Minimalist art reduces objects
to their most simplified form.
This philosophy lives on today in aesthetic minimalism,
which is marked by simple spaces that are scattered
with a few essential items.
Since aesthetic minimalism is all about
removing visual clutter, day one's challenge
is to clean my room.
What you hiding on the closet for?
Come on we got clean my room.
Let's go.
Okay, we're stuck.
Step number one is my bed.
I think I have to get rid of all my pillows.
(bright upbeat music)
Oh, that wasn't supposed to happen.
- MT
MT, oh my God!
- Day two is digital minimalism.
Ultimately, the goal is to reduce unnecessary screen time.
And there are two main approaches to this,
minimizing digital distractions,
and decluttering your digital space.
The first comes from Cal Newport in his book,
"Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focus to Life
in a Noisy World."
He recommends turning off notifications
and clearing your inbox.
The second comes from treating your virtual space
like a physical one.
Hoarding apps, photos and files can make it difficult
to access the things that we actually need or care about.
So since digital minimalism is about tidying up
our electronic experience, day two's challenge
is to free up some storage on my phone
and clear out my photos.
I got 6300 photos and I guess
you're just gonna watch me delete my photos.
I got some snacks, let's do it.
(bright upbeat music)
I wanted to share a quick photo
that has never seen the internet,
because Sabrina hates the photo.
But I think it's very sentimental.
It is the only photo that exists of Taha, Sabrina,
and myself all together.
Yeah, I'm not deleting it.
So it is the end of day two.
And I have deleted 4000 photos from my phone.
I still have 1800 left on my phone,
but that was a big task.
That's it for today.
Day three.
So today we're focusing on experientialism.
It's all about reducing our dependence on material goods
to make us happy and instead it suggests
that we should focus on creating experiences and memories.
Our challenge for day three is to go out and do things.
I'm going to go for a walk.
I went by the lake and brought my two wheeled board
and tried to look cool riding it along the path
and definitely failed.
I had a little dance party everywhere I went
and got to enjoy music while not working
or doing anything but eating berries and chilling in my car.
As you can tell, I'm parked.
Then I spent the evening catching up with friends.
We video chatted and cooked a meal together
and honestly it was a really nice ending
to a busy but overall a really fun day.
Also, I didn't show the clip but the food was so good.
All right, day four, environmental minimalism.
Environmental minimalism is all about
consuming less, reducing waste,
and making the most of what you already have.
In some ways environmental minimalism
is a natural extension of aesthetic minimalism,
where the ladder demands you remove the clutter.
Environmental minimalism asks, well, where do you put it?
So day four challenge is to look at
all the things I decluttered in day one,
and figure out how to reduce waste and best extend its life.
Since I did a lot of decluttering,
I found that I have a lot of extra t-shirts.
So Sabrina suggested that I turn them into beeswax wraps.
What are those you might ask, I asked the same thing.
It's a replacement for a single use plastic wrap.
So you can use it to like cover bowls
when you put it in the fridge.
These are probably not going to be pretty,
but that is not the point of today.
The point is that they are functional, serve a purpose,
and I don't have to throw out stuff.
I'm going to follow this tutorial.
Obviously, I need beeswax so I'm gonna go get that.
So I quickly ran to the local craft store and pick some up,
and luckily I got the last bag.
So I cut up my t-shirts.
It's so (mumbles).
That helpful, I just need three hands.
I got my beeswax, and I got it on sale.
I'm gonna melt this now.
So I laid my fabric flat on a baking tray,
and then I melted my wax.
(calm music)
And then when your beeswax is all melted,
you just brush them.
Wax keeps hardening, and I think this is probably
why you're supposed to put it in the oven
So I'm gonna go do that.
While we wait for my beeswax wraps to get out of the oven,
I just want to show you my paintbrush.
She is a crispy.
Oh, okay, I gonna get that of the oven now.
Oh, they look so smooth. (calm music)
So this is how they turned out.
Here's a little before and after.
Also, here's a little demo.
Overall, not a fail.
Finally, day five, mindful minimalism.
This one is all about clarity and focus
and serves as a compliment to experientialism.
But instead of spending time making new experiences,
mindful minimalism asks us to be reflective,
still, and focus on one thing.
Since day five is about mental clarity and self awareness,
the challenge for the day is to reflect
on the past week and what we've learned.
So I am naturally an anxious person
who usually feels too busy to take the time
to be reflective, let alone try to focus
on a single task at a time.
So I tried to meditate.
Meditation, self awareness, inner peace.
That meditation was not very productive.
I made myself a beverage and wrote my thoughts
on each day in a journal, and here's what I found.
I think the biggest thing that I learned throughout the week
was not just about decluttering
'cause that's what it seems like minimalism
is all about just throw everything away and forget about it.
What this week taught me was to just
be more intentional about how I spend
my time, my money, my energy.
'Cause when you're more intentional
about the things that you do, you feel more abundant
with the things that you have.
I actually enjoyed all the different species
of minimalism that I tried out this week,
and I even like aesthetic minimalism
like it was fun, however I do have a bone to pick with it.
Because with aesthetic minimalism
you're tryna like declutter your space
and get rid of everything blah, blah, blah, blah.
But the thing is, what happens with all of the waste,
what do you do with all the trash that you create?
So you like you become minimalist,
and then you just make other stuff someone else's problem.
The problems aren't gone, they're just gone from yourself.
I just think that it's always good
when we can do good things for ourselves
and for other people.
That's it, that's enough now, bye.
Oh, hey there you thought the video was over?
Not quite.
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for sponsoring this video.
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