Recently I've had this kind of nostalgia towards the 90s (when I was a child/teen) and getting some of the simplicity back. Less digital stuff, more analog. And I miss things like being excited for a new episode of friends on x day at x time.
I admire your bravery and willingness to share your struggles about internet addiction and how you want to change not only to help yourself and improve your life, but for the sake of your son as well. ❤You're a good mom - even if you're not perfect and not where you want to be yet. I believe in you! 😊 You help show me where I can/want to try to be better with tech too. Thank you for making this video. I didn’t know I needed to hear this from another extreme minimalist - it’s validating and comforting to know that someone else is experiencing what I am. Your journey of switching to physical items is really mirroring my own. And honestly, I’ve been struggling a little bit with it. I'm a more extreme minimalist myself, and the past couple of years have been what I'll call "mindful gathering" for me. I definitely relate to the struggle/balance of adding more physical possessions to improve my life, but also not wanting to add too much more. A few years ago I decluttered all my books (I had less than 10). It was so freeing and I never regretted that. I mostly used the library too and have taken full advantage of my library system's ebooks especially.😊 Well, this year, after careful consideration, I decided I wanted to bring a few books back into my life - books I've read from the library that I've referenced several times that are my favorite. It's much easier to flip through a book and find what I want when I need/want to read it than an ebook. Plus, I wanted to reduce screen time as well and not have everything I do be tracked constantly. I also bought a handful of books to help with my language learning/books in my target language. That felt really important to me and it has helped my learning progress. Also after not being able to do art for several years because I have pretty severe arthritis in both my hands (even though I'm only 35), I've recently found out about adaptive art tools. I've been investing in those and buying art supplies because I can't do the majority of art I used to do. I'm having to build up my art supplies nearly from scratch and trying to balance having varied art/craft interests but also making sure I can use up &/or not forget what I actually buy. There's a few other areas of my life where I'm wanting to go more physical too (like photos, alarm clocks and certain personal writings/notes and stuff. Like you said, who knew we'd go back to having that pre-tech stuff from when we were younger after several years of not needing to have it. I think for me too, it's the fact that I'm struggling with organization - on where to store it all, therefore it feels like it's all over the place. Since I highly value an orderly, visually calm environment that’s functional, I’m struggling a bit with my limited space. And it boils down to this as you stated: as people, our needs, wants, and desires change. We're still minimalists, but we've changed. And like you said, our needs and wants might change again in the future. It's not about the amount of possessions we have - it's a mindset. I have what I need and I'm now able to get the things that can support my current life and my needs further. And honestly I believe most people would think we’re both still rather “extreme” compared to the general population. 😊
@Elle_Gael I appreciate the time it took to write this out! I've since decluttered another bag full of stuff because we opened up toddlers' birthday gifts early. He got a water table with huge supplies, 3 thomas trains (he loved them both) and a car track (like a train track but flat) and I really don't know if that will stay. I got a Christmas item by accident that was suppose to be my mums so she will take that and I decluttered a wall mirror that I had years ago that was at my mums, that I took to mine and changed my mind on. I brought 24 colouring pens yesterday as I lost 3 for my BJ. However, they run thru the pages so my sister can have them for her colouring and I will either make do with the 3 colors or rebuy the 5 I had before. I didn't even take them out of the house and yet they seem lost forever. Managing the extreme minimalism (everything on a phone) and physical tech started as a back up for when my phone broke and I didn't have anything to listen to or read or tell the time. But now it's evolved into sensibly collecting physical media. I found books recently that I read before and enjoyed and really wanted to re-buy them. I decided not too, based on previous knowledge on how unlikely I don't re-read physical media. Which is fine. But I'm also just now realising that it's not a strict no, but rather a ebs and flows one. I'm still an extreme minimalist, but I'm letting go of it as a strict identity and rather something like a habit, like for me... eating an orange a day. Y'know.
Deleting your accounts and not simply avoiding sites like amazon is definitely a step above and something I feel like I need to work on. Towards the end you talk about change. In the more traditional sense of zen and minimalism, that’s one of the reasons to detach - so that we reduce suffering by not being bound to things when life changes (or always will of course). I like that approach, I have to work hard to be in charge of my things not have them be in charge of me.
@@farrisbuellersweekoff it's REALLY HARD to delete amazon. Like, super hard. I tried before and failed and cried my heart out, it was a whole detox process of fear, anxiety and the like. And that's with STILL HAVING ACCESS if I really truly needed it because my sister gave me permission to use hers AND she has the 24 hour delivery thingy. I am trying again in January after pay day as i need a particualr hair brush, alarm clock and the like to dumb down my phone, so we will see!
I do the similar thing (watch, DVD, even VHS with favorites, radio with some CDs). I even think about getting a digital camera because I try to not use phone, even leave it at home but sometimes I wish to be able to take a photo or two. I would even be able to buy newspapers (didn't find any title that I liked) in order to read news from it instead of twitter because I don't like when my child sees me staring at my phone. Then we could make some art work, paper airplanes etc. with it. Living in the 90s kinda style
Recently I've had this kind of nostalgia towards the 90s (when I was a child/teen) and getting some of the simplicity back. Less digital stuff, more analog. And I miss things like being excited for a new episode of friends on x day at x time.
@Victorialindblad I understand. For some reason I'm really enjoying non white homes.
I admire your bravery and willingness to share your struggles about internet addiction and how you want to change not only to help yourself and improve your life, but for the sake of your son as well. ❤You're a good mom - even if you're not perfect and not where you want to be yet. I believe in you! 😊 You help show me where I can/want to try to be better with tech too.
Thank you for making this video. I didn’t know I needed to hear this from another extreme minimalist - it’s validating and comforting to know that someone else is experiencing what I am. Your journey of switching to physical items is really mirroring my own. And honestly, I’ve been struggling a little bit with it. I'm a more extreme minimalist myself, and the past couple of years have been what I'll call "mindful gathering" for me.
I definitely relate to the struggle/balance of adding more physical possessions to improve my life, but also not wanting to add too much more. A few years ago I decluttered all my books (I had less than 10). It was so freeing and I never regretted that. I mostly used the library too and have taken full advantage of my library system's ebooks especially.😊
Well, this year, after careful consideration, I decided I wanted to bring a few books back into my life - books I've read from the library that I've referenced several times that are my favorite. It's much easier to flip through a book and find what I want when I need/want to read it than an ebook. Plus, I wanted to reduce screen time as well and not have everything I do be tracked constantly. I also bought a handful of books to help with my language learning/books in my target language. That felt really important to me and it has helped my learning progress.
Also after not being able to do art for several years because I have pretty severe arthritis in both my hands (even though I'm only 35), I've recently found out about adaptive art tools. I've been investing in those and buying art supplies because I can't do the majority of art I used to do. I'm having to build up my art supplies nearly from scratch and trying to balance having varied art/craft interests but also making sure I can use up &/or not forget what I actually buy.
There's a few other areas of my life where I'm wanting to go more physical too (like photos, alarm clocks and certain personal writings/notes and stuff. Like you said, who knew we'd go back to having that pre-tech stuff from when we were younger after several years of not needing to have it.
I think for me too, it's the fact that I'm struggling with organization - on where to store it all, therefore it feels like it's all over the place. Since I highly value an orderly, visually calm environment that’s functional, I’m struggling a bit with my limited space.
And it boils down to this as you stated: as people, our needs, wants, and desires change. We're still minimalists, but we've changed. And like you said, our needs and wants might change again in the future. It's not about the amount of possessions we have - it's a mindset. I have what I need and I'm now able to get the things that can support my current life and my needs further. And honestly I believe most people would think we’re both still rather “extreme” compared to the general population. 😊
@Elle_Gael I appreciate the time it took to write this out! I've since decluttered another bag full of stuff because we opened up toddlers' birthday gifts early. He got a water table with huge supplies, 3 thomas trains (he loved them both) and a car track (like a train track but flat) and I really don't know if that will stay. I got a Christmas item by accident that was suppose to be my mums so she will take that and I decluttered a wall mirror that I had years ago that was at my mums, that I took to mine and changed my mind on. I brought 24 colouring pens yesterday as I lost 3 for my BJ. However, they run thru the pages so my sister can have them for her colouring and I will either make do with the 3 colors or rebuy the 5 I had before. I didn't even take them out of the house and yet they seem lost forever.
Managing the extreme minimalism (everything on a phone) and physical tech started as a back up for when my phone broke and I didn't have anything to listen to or read or tell the time. But now it's evolved into sensibly collecting physical media. I found books recently that I read before and enjoyed and really wanted to re-buy them. I decided not too, based on previous knowledge on how unlikely I don't re-read physical media. Which is fine. But I'm also just now realising that it's not a strict no, but rather a ebs and flows one. I'm still an extreme minimalist, but I'm letting go of it as a strict identity and rather something like a habit, like for me... eating an orange a day. Y'know.
I find so much inspiration from your channel.
Deleting your accounts and not simply avoiding sites like amazon is definitely a step above and something I feel like I need to work on.
Towards the end you talk about change. In the more traditional sense of zen and minimalism, that’s one of the reasons to detach - so that we reduce suffering by not being bound to things when life changes (or always will of course). I like that approach, I have to work hard to be in charge of my things not have them be in charge of me.
@@farrisbuellersweekoff it's REALLY HARD to delete amazon. Like, super hard. I tried before and failed and cried my heart out, it was a whole detox process of fear, anxiety and the like. And that's with STILL HAVING ACCESS if I really truly needed it because my sister gave me permission to use hers AND she has the 24 hour delivery thingy. I am trying again in January after pay day as i need a particualr hair brush, alarm clock and the like to dumb down my phone, so we will see!
@@extrememinimalistparentWhy don't you try to PAUSE it first? 😉
@@zoeymichael3966 not for me x
I do the similar thing (watch, DVD, even VHS with favorites, radio with some CDs). I even think about getting a digital camera because I try to not use phone, even leave it at home but sometimes I wish to be able to take a photo or two. I would even be able to buy newspapers (didn't find any title that I liked) in order to read news from it instead of twitter because I don't like when my child sees me staring at my phone. Then we could make some art work, paper airplanes etc. with it. Living in the 90s kinda style