In a world where we are so often sold more, at what point does enough become enough?
It’s a question I’ve pondered lots over the last several years. In my initial foray into trying to live a simpler life, after years of chasing more, I tried the opposite and sought less. While less was a valuable entry point (and still is a great place to start for many of us), at some point we reach enough.
What enough looks like for each of us is personal. My version of enough may look cluttered to some and stripped back to others. As long as it’s enough for me , and the people I share space with, that’s fine. Comparisons matter little to me these days.
Minimalism, so often sold as the antidote to our modern cluttered lives, has taken a strange turn in recent times. We see the hashtags “Less is More”, “Pare Down” etc. Hell, I’ve used those hashtags to share articles (and no doubt will use them again). However, this can lead to a strange set of circumstances where we never feel like we have stripped back our lives enough. There’s always more to do.
Is this really what minimalism and living simply is all about? A race to zero. I think not.
Perhaps we do strip back but we strip back too far and our lives become bare. We say no to life passions in an attempt to conserve ever more funds and become increasingly frugal, afraid to part with our money for anything. Life loses a little sparkle.
Maybe, in an attempt to reach a set number of clothing items in our wardrobe, we go too far and throw out some of our favourite pieces. All in the name of reaching a baseline that doesn’t fit for us.
Let’s be clear, simple should never mean barren. If it does, something has gone wrong and we’ve taken things to an extreme (for us).
We can ensure the balance doesn’t tip too far by staying close to the following question:
What does enough look like for me?
While our answers to this simple question may change over time, we can live a life in accordance with our responses. We can live a rich life filled with the things, experiences and people that matter most to us, that give us most back. Distraction free for sure but not a sterile or monastic existence. That should never be the goal.
Not too little, not too much – there’s a power in enough.