Minimalism Vs. Abundance: Here's My Opinionated Rant!

Do I have the right to rant? I guess I do, and I will use this right now and I will be very opinionated and fearless of any critique.

I hope you will find this rant at least entertaining and at most it will support you in any way or give you some food for thought.

Here is a very important disclaimer: I strongly believe in the freedom of opinions and thoughts if they do not discriminate or hurt others.

We are living in a very complicated reality where thoughtfulness, kindness, and acceptance mean more than ever.

I have recently got one comment that made me feel quite uncomfortable, although I agreed with several points there. I will not cite that person, but the overall idea was that they have begun to live a fuller life once they ditched minimalism and embraced abundance through getting more physical possessions.

And I have to admit that several points there resonated with me: their thoughts about finding oneself, living a fuller life, creating more. I partly agreed with the comment.

But still, something in that comment raised a disagreement inside, an urge to contemplate and explore more. I had to pause to think and I have finally found what it was. That is what I want to discuss with you today.

I bet you have noticed how everything around us at the moment screams that we should consume, that we should be more, take up more space, fight for that space, fight for more possessions, otherwise we are losers. And who wants to be called a loser? Definitely no one.

The thing is that the majority of people in the world at the moment simply cannot afford abundance. They cannot afford the variety of clothes, shoes, or creative tools, or living in bigger spaces.

Minimalism as we know it became so popular and trendy because people who have too much stuff and too much clutter finally got tired of it. They got tired of their time and energy being eaten up by things. Minimalism gave them tools to declutter, to set the right priorities, to live simply and meaningfully.

On the other hand, minimalism also provided solace and dignity to those who have to live minimally, not by choice, but out of necessity.

I grew up poor, and I was low income for the most part of my life. I had to move a lot, and at the moment as well I do not have any stability, just like so many people out there.

And minimalism helped me feel less “lessness”. It reinforced my foundation, my belief that we can do more, and we can be more, even if we have just a few tools, few opportunities, less money, and less space.

I do not believe all people are equal. Yes, that would be great, but the reality proves otherwise. There is still no racial equality, gender equality, financial equality, passport equality, age equality, you name it.

But I do strongly believe that we all deserve the right to feel fulfilled, empowered, and inspired, regardless of our possessions, quantities, and categories. All we need is the quality of our values.

Yes, there will always be counter action. If there is weight, we need counterweight to create balance. If there are minimalists, there will be maximalists.

If there are socialists, there will be capitalists. If there are pacifists, there will be warmongers. It is all up to us to choose on what side we want to be.

Minimalism for me is a very important step towards the denunciation of the uncontrollable power of material things and money over humans. I do not want people to be valued by the measure of stuff.

Healthy relationship with things lies in the middle, aurea mediocritas, the golden mean. And to find it, we often have to learn both extremes.

There is no shame in exploring those extremes, and I find it very inspiring to see the path that people have taken, where they have started, and where they are now and why.

We change, we choose differently, and sometimes we do not have any choice other than choosing our attitude to where we are and to what we have or do not have.

Minimalism vs. Abundance

Minimalism gave me and thousands of other people freedom from feeling like we are less, and I find it so important not to forget it, not to ditch it in favor of promoting abundance. There must be more to life than having everything.

Let me know in the comments what you think about this controversial topic. I welcome every opinion, but please be kind and respectful.

It will be lovely to read your thoughts, and perhaps together we can find the way to a better understanding of our own perspectives. As always, be safe and keep your heart open!