Trendy Minimalism

"I gave away my student loans, my credit card debt, and my middle name."

-The Trendy Girl Presents: Minimalism

Did you give away everything you own yet? If not, you're behind and haven't jumped onto the 2020 trend of minimalism. Less is more. Less is everything. But in reality, it's not.

We've all been scrolling on Instagram and come across this person (represented in the sketch above): "The Influencer" here to tell us about minimalism and it's power to save us. But really, they're just showing off their outfit, the minimalism fashion trend: beige, black and white.

I wrote and filmed the sketch attached above, The Trendy Girl Presents: Minimalism, in order to point out the ridiculousness of minimalism as a "trend" and the people who don't understand the heart behind it. Let me clarify: I do not think minimalism is bad, I think it is a great movement if the intentions are right. I loved the Netflix documentary Minimalism: Less is Now. There are great YouTube channels and social media movements that are encouraging real minimalism. Those are great. They are teaching me so much. I have learned to let go of a lot of things I don't need (like the 100 different shades of nailpolish in my bathroom that are never used). I have become aware of the subconscious pressure of consumerism and have stopped feeling anxious to buy everything I see. Letting go of items that aren't helping my life on a daily basis (like boxed away junk that I keep "just in case") has actually been SO freeing. I resepct the experts in the minimalism movement. They are doing an awesome job. Their message is not what I want to leave behind in 2021.

I am writing about the people that jumped on the minimalism movement and turned it into some kind of fashion and bragging trend. In my sketch, the girl gave away everything she had, including her student loans, her credit card debt, and her middle name. Wouldn't that be nice. Clearly she doesn't understand the heart of minimalism. She went so far as to give away all of her roommates belongings because they weren't "serving" her on a daily basis. Sounds selfish and ridiculous? That was the point. This makes me laugh because she is using the trend of minimalism as an excuse to give away her roommates clutter. Again, wouldn't that be nice.

I cringe when I think about people in really hard financial situations that see the trendy minimalist influencers throwing away things they don't need to get more Instagram likes. I imagine those people thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a problem of having too many things instead of not enough?" What a foreign thought to a lot of people. I had a season in my life like that. When someone is in a season when they don't know where their next paycheck is coming from, giving away anything can be hard. Some people keep everything, even "junk," because they really will need it to keep warm. Or, maybe now they are through the hard financial season but it still pains them to get rid of something they use to dream about having. I get that.

True minimalism is not here to judge those people. It is not about getting rid of things just to get rid of them or about only wearing beige, black and white. True minimalism is becoming free of the identity of material things. It is about assessing what we need and giving away what we don't in order to give to those who actually need it. When I see minimalism as a fashion trend, it is negating it's true purpose because once again material things have become an identity. This time, the identity of not having too many material things makes the person feel valuable.

Not having junk or having way too much clutter does not make us impactful. They're just things. Helping others is what makes an impact on the world and I think that is the true heart of minimalism. If the clutter in your life is distracting you from helping others, then that is a great reason to start decluttering.

Paradoxically, the biggest givers I have known have been both people that own way too many things for their own sanity as well as people who could barely afford their next meal. What did both have in common? They cared about helping others.

So lets say goodbye to the trendy, misunderstood minimalism trend. Wear a ton of color and have closets full of clothes if that's what you want, or have 5 items of clothing (beige, black and white). It doesn't matter as long as your lack or surplus of material things doesn't define you.

"If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing."

- The Bible, 1 Corinthians 13: 3