Is Living a Minimalist Lifestyle Hard To Do?
There a number of ways to look at and answer this question.
If you think that a minimalist lifestyle will be hard then I suppose it will be.
If you embrace it and commit to it then it will be easier to achieve.
That all being said minimalist living can be tricky at times. The holiday season may test some of us. I consider myself a minimalist but I wonder at times if I am a hypocrite.
I get caught up in the consumer hype of spending and buying. I feel somewhat obligated to buy things for others to show them that I appreciate them. A bit ridiculous for sure.
The other thing I struggle with in a big way in my form of minimalist living is trying to not feel like a failure for what I have accomplished thus far in my life and for how much money I make.
I make enough to pay my bills and contribute nicely for my retirement. But when around my girlfriend’s circle of friends I feel very inadequate. They all make very, very good money and are successful. They have successful businesses and some have won awards. They like to go out and eat at nice restaurants and travel and that is fine . It is just a bit hard to not feel inadequate. Don’t get me wrong. They are very nice people.
Last night the men were taking about looking at 200.00$ dress shirts. Ha. All my shirts together might not equal 200.00$. So I don’t have a lot to contribute to the conversation.
And I hate that inevitable question of, “So what do you do?”. Well I work in a factory and really am a replaceable drone. I make a lot less than a new college graduate. About 35000.00$ a year. Most people would wonder how someone can live on that much money. Minimalist living is how. And it is something I believe in.
So if you are choosing to live a minimalist lifestyle be prepared that these issues may rear their ugly heads at times. I mean we are all human and have emotions.
I wish I didn’t have these feelings of inadequacies. I would love to just embrace minimalist living to its
fullest and not give a goddamn about money and spending and how much anyone else makes. But I kind of do at times. I am the least successful of all the people I went to school with. Not a very comforting thought. They all have houses. I certainly am not fortunate enough to be in that situation.
It would be nice to have a small, easy to maintain place of my own, but I do not make enough money to even qualify for a place of my own. This is even though I have no consumer debt. Anyway I digress.
So again I feel a bit lacking.
Minimalist living can be tricky at times. That is the truth for a lot of us.
Just remember to breathe and try to compare yourself to you. Do your best. Be true to yourself.
I need to take some of my own advice. One day at a time I guess.
I would really love it if everyone would both Like and Share this post via Social Media. Thanks.
“Live Simply”
Change The Code 
I know exactly how you feel Mark. No matter how virtuous (for want of a better word) I should probably feel about devoting my time to helping others, of having stayed home and raised my own children and of being a great support to my husband over 25 years I still feel inadequate about the fact that I have never had a career to speak of. And certainly not one with prestige and a large pay packet. I rail at society at times for dictating what is a worthy use of life and what isn’t but in the end the only person to blame for me not being content with my own brand of success is myself.
I feel the same. I made the choices I made. Went to college for something I knew was not for me(teaching). I did have a successful business but after my marriage break up my ex wanted it and I didn’t. I have never found my passion.
Thanks so much for commenting.
I hope you find your passion Mark. Or maybe you just haven’t recognised it and it has been there all along. Remember don’t let society dictate what worthy passions are either.
you may be right. we will see what 2012 brings.
Your lifestyle and mine are almost identical. I am a minimalist and work a blue collar job. My pay stub this year says that I have made $37K this year for the honest work that I do. I think of the $100K I could make doing dishonest work in financial services. I had a girlfriend who begged me to give up my blue collar job to get a “real job” screwing over people. Then, she would ask to borrow money. Needless to say, I dumped her.
Most of the people I see living larger lives do so thanks to consumer credit. Even people on a similar income as mine drive new muscle cars while I keep driving my 1999 Toyota Camry. I have zero debt while they have car payments larger than my rent. I have no idea how they do it.
The hardest part of being a minimalist is learning to ignore the herd. In time, you will see them run off the cliff. I already have. It was the collapse of the housing bubble.
Yes. Good points you make. All of which I know. People certainly live beyond their means and spend more each month than they earn. A show I watched last week had a couple that had a combined income of 130,000$ and had no money to pay their mortgage next month and had no money set aside for retirement! And they were in their 40’s! WTF?!! Unreal. So I guess I should take solace in the fact that I do put almost half of each paycheck away for retirement. Hard at times but necessary.
Thanks for commenting and good on you for staying true to who you are.
I think your sentiments speak to many. I have lived the gamet of salaries and I look for support with blogs such as yourself for reinforcement of my beliefs. I have no real connections closeby that are trying to accomplish a simple lifestyle and I am thankful for your thoughts throughout this year that has helped me along the way!
Thanks very much for your kind words. Keep the faith. A simple lifestyle is the way to go.