Hello

[Eric]

Greetings everyone. The past week or so, I was leisurely searching through internet forums related to minimalist lifestyle and philosophy for some fresh thoughts and ideas. The community at Simple Living forums seemed down-to-earth, insightful, and personable, with a touch of quirkiness, so I thought: why not become a member?

I'm looking forward to talking with similar-minded people who would like to distill their lives down to what matters most to them.

A little about me: I am in my late-30s, grew up in the Midwest, and moved to the south back in 2007. Went to school for environmental engineering and now work for the government as a hydrologist/water quality specialist. Work, watching too many David Attenborough documentaries, and other such things have helped to change my perspective on life, opening my eyes to the impacts we as humans are having on nature, which has been a major inspiration for trying to live a lifestyle less dependent on consumerism/capitalism. Also, I tend to have an overly-analytical mind and get too caught up in the details, and have found minimalism to be a good way to remove the clutter to be able to focus on the important stuff. And I have become weary of constant connection that smartphones and the internet provide, and have been slowly trying to reduce my exposure to screens in favor of being outdoors, reading from physical books, spending quality time with others, etc. And I'm learning that being part of a like-minded community really helps with stepping out of the groupthink of the more mainstream in favor of a less chosen, better path.


Eric

[Teacher Terry]

Welcome Eric! While not a minimalist I have much less than before and I easily fit into 833 sq ft condo. I have 3 closets and one is 3/4 full of my son’s stuff. I love being able to quickly find anything I need plus I can clean easily. It also feels more peaceful.

[happystuff]

Welcome, Eric! I'm a work-in-progress, especially towards minimalism. It's definitely a life-long journey. I look forward to hearing your perspective!

[Rogar]

Hey Eric, hope you find some things of interest here. I graduated in an area of natural sciences and a number of my college and work friends have found work in a similar field and have made a positive difference. Coming from an older generation, it's ironic that a number of them started out in oil and gas or precious minerals exploration and after a couple of boom and bust cycles ended up in some aspect of hydrogeology. Now, a couple of them work on EPA superfund sites or another aspect of water quality and pollution mitigation.

A number of us here started out long ago being inspired by the book, "Your Money or Your Life". It's slightly dated, but I think it has been revised and updated. It changed my thinking. Worth checking out of you've not already.

I recently watched the PBS program with Attenborough moderating the great asteroid extinction event. Anymore he's become such a dry doomsayer, but I think does a good job at representing an unbiased scientific approach to the changes on our planet. It's pleasing to know he has influenced others.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Hello I'm a Gen Xer in my 40s. I'm not super minimalist but don't see it as some huge mountain I have to climb to become more minimalist, mostly because I've never led a life that has led to that much stuff anyway (but I have some stuff and it can get disordered). Like I've never lived in any large dwelling I have to downside from etc.. I grew up watching that David Attenborough, he left his mark on the world and me. I don't care if he's doomster because frankly so I am somewhat. :)

[catherine]

Nice to "meet" you, Eric! I"m very much on the same wavelength in terms of the environmental impact of consumerism and trying to do what we can.

I love your characterization of this forum as "down-to-earth, insightful, and personable, with a touch of quirkiness". I think the quirkiness stems from the fact that we are all here for basically the same reason, but we come in many different shapes, sizes, political leanings, etc.

Looking forward to hearing more from you. Welcome!

[dado potato]

Welcome, Eric.

When you say you are in the south, I wonder Do you say, "Red bird" or do you say, "Northern Cardinal"?

William Faulkner wrote of the red bird, sitting in his cottage in Oxford, MS.

My dear wife and I visited Oxford, and Gulfport, Memphis, Clarksdale (A garage in Clarksdale did temporary repairs on our car and would not accept payment.), Shearwater Pottery in Ocean Springs, Paducah (quilts!).

[Eric]

Hi Terry! I agree with your thoughts. We could be bound in a nutshell and count ourselves kings of infinite space. :-p

[Teacher Terry]

Eric, when I was your age I lived in a big old house and collected antiques plus had 3 kids and a spouse with their junk. When I got a job halfway across the country I had to clean it out in 10 days. My husband was working out of town. Slept about 4 hours a night and my mom came over daily to run a sale while a friend and I packed. We were moving ourselves and had rented the biggest Uhaul truck.

That was the beginning of more is not better and it’s been a gradual process. Before I buy anything I ask myself if it’s going to be hauled to a thrift store in a few years. I actually find now that when I am in a cluttered house I feel unsettled. I look around and think about all the stuff that they could get rid of:)).

[pinkytoe]

It helped us to cancel the amazon account several years ago. Not that we were big spenders there but as mentioned it is too easy to acquire and the environmental trade-offs are huge. Every day, I struggle with the internet as I believe it is an addiction made worse by the pandemic.

[Eric]

Hi Happystuff! It can definitely be a life-long
effort. My perspective on minimalism has
been helped along by finding ways to
expand my thought process to more
realistically consider a wider spectrum of
possibilities. More recently I've come to the
conclusion the internet has provided those
of us with access and some disposable
income nearly infinite permutations of ways
to live and things to have, which makes it a
path of least resistance to accumulate
material goods by way of trial and error via
eBay, Etsy, Amazon, etc. I think realizing this,
unwinding the associated thought patterns,
and paring down to only what I use has been
a bit of a dive into the rabbit hole. I think If one can
remove themselves from their routine
behaviors and thoughts and see see them
more at a distance from fresh perspectives,
it becomes easier to get rid of old habits
that aren't very useful and make new ones
that are.

[Eric]

Thanks Rogar. Glad your friends found something more stable and fulfilling. Thanks for the book recommendation, I will check it out tonight.

I've heard criticisms his documentaries weren't giving enough attention to climate change and human impacts to the environment, and it seems like in more recent documentaries it's more heavily emphasized. I hear you, for some reason I've always kinda preferred his older documentaries more focused on earth science and nature, although some of his newer ones have been very good (the one made a year or so ago about plants put him back in view of the camera...lots of cool novel plant time-lapse, I think they may have used the same techniques on Attenborough now that he's like 95 and moves only slightly faster than bamboo grows).

[Rogar]

Eric, I didn't realize that Attenborough was that old. He might be making his swan song plea to save the wonderful things he's seen in his travels. It's possibly the same shift of focus I've had where it's hard to look at some of the great things in nature without worrying about their future. I actually smiled seeing him in the extinction program, sort of like a visit from an old friend. I think he should be knighted with he's still around.

I imagine hydrology projects are different in the south, but a handful of friends have worked mitigating pollution from the mines in the mountains, where water invasions into the old gold and silver mining tunnels are washing heavy metals into streams that should be pristine. Some have other types of projects, but since I like to fish it's had my interest.

[Eric]

Hi ApetheticNoMore. I think it took me some time to live more like how you have probably always been living. Hopefully Attenborough outlives most Galápagos tortoises, his perspective on global change seems nearly unparalleled given all the places he's explored and how long he's been doing his thing.

[Eric]

Nice to meet you Catherine, and thanks for the welcome. :-) I like your explanation for the quirkiness, well said. Overall, it seems like the community here has a healthy balance of like-mindedness and individuality.

[Eric]

Hello there, Dado Potato,

It sounds like you and your wife had youselves a nice trip to some of the more old-timey small cities down here. What did you learn from the experience?

I'm sure plenty of people down here still call them red birds, though I just call them cardinals.

[dado potato]

I learned to appreciate barbecue and smoked meats. A trip to Floyd VA got us into a drumming circle.