This whole website is about achieving minimalism while surrounded by the cultural expectations and challenges here in the industrialized world. This is precisely where minimalism is most needed, here in the modern world — where we need to have cars and jobs. If we lived in an isolated tribal village, with primitive customs, chances are we’d be expert minimalists already. The ancient world was not filled with the clutter and excess that mass production and dollar stores dish out.
Industrialized countries are where we have been convinced to overdo everything, based on the empty promises of consumerism. We fell for the story because of the beautiful ending – that consumerism was THE way to make better lives for ourselves and for future generations. So this is where we now need to find balance through Abundant Minimalism.
Wherever we live, we will seek out the best way to fit balance into our lives. Some will be able to live without cars, but others won’t. Some will switch careers to those that provide more simplicity and joy. For each of us, the form minimalism takes will be different, but the main thing is to find what works for you now.
If today you are less preoccupied with the acquisition of material goods, you’re doing it right. If your choices are helping you to streamline your life so you can focus on what’s most essential, beneficial, and valuable to you, then you are definitely doing it right!