Staying on the path of minimalism & sustainable living
At times, my fellow humans ask me what keeps me on the path of minimalism and sustainable living. I've been on this path since 2010 and don't ever plan to step away from it because it feels so good, so right, and liberating.
When my partner and I were talking about our motivations, what prompted each of us to begin our sustainability journeys, we discovered that our motivations were very different. He stepped on his path because he started reading literatures, books and reports, that describe ecological degradation. I stepped on my path to heal, to return to the way I felt in my childhood, much of which I spent in a rural area. I felt oneness with nature. I felt that I needed so little to live a good life. I talked to non-human beings. In 2010, I was in my early 20s. This motivation to heal and be whole again intertwined with my interest in plant-based food, voluntary simplicity, and then, much later, with my academic interest in ecological economics and post-growth. I started working on my PhD on degrowth only in 2016, several years after I began living more sustainably. Reading books and reports reinforced my desire to live sustainably and research sustainability further. But they were not the origin of my motivation. The books that influenced my practice the most were not books in ecological economics either. Rather, they were the ones in philosophy, and especially philosophy that celebrates human goodness and our interconnectedness with one another and nature (for example, I am inspired by Roy Bhaskar's writings on MetaReality). I have never read books specifically on minimalism and zero-waste.
I often say that my reasons to live the way I do are ecological, spiritual, aesthetic, health-related, and financial. The spiritual dimension, for me, is not less important than the ecological one.
I began my journey not with decluttering my space, but rather with moving countries. When I moved, I took only what I needed with me. And then I wanted to dive more deeply into the nature of what I thought I needed and the reasons why. I sketched what I call a "sufficiency list". I simply asked myself: what do I genuinely need to live a good and cosy life? Above is a screenshot of my sufficiency list from 2022. This is by no means a benchmark for any fellow human. I believe that everyone's sufficiency list would look very different. I didn't have any particular number of objects in my mind. I told myself the list could be as long as I wanted it to be. If it had to be hundreds of items, that was ok. If it had to be 10 items, that's was also ok. To me, that was and still is perhaps the most powerful exercise in life's philosophy, self-care and self-love. My sufficiency list hasn't changed much over the years. Every now and then, I share it in this autoethnography, but it looks almost exactly the same every time.
When my fellow humans ask me which books they should read and what videos they should watch to feel empowered in their practice, I recommend, for example, Walden by Thoreau and Voluntary Simplicity By Elgin. But above all, I recommend inner work. Inner dialogues, self compassion, self-care and self-love. Spending quality time with oneself to get to know oneself, one's values and motivations better. Writing personal notes has been very helpful to me. Between 2010 and 2021, my notes very fragmented. I wrote them in notebooks which I never kept. In 2021, my life changed a lot. I moved from to northern Sweden. I began to live on my own and had plenty of time, especially in the cold, long and dark winter, to dive even deeper into my relationship with myself, objects, time, and space.
Because everyone is a unique individual, everyone's path is unique. Everyone's constellation of sustainability practices will be unique too. For this reason, I don't usually watch videos or read advice such as what others should do, what they should keep, and what they should say goodbye to/declutter. I do my best to frame my writing as my personal story and talk about my experience. Fellow humans can then see if any of it applies to them or if they would approach their practices differently, which is absolutely ok too, as long as it results in wellbeing of the self, human and non-human others, and nature.
I do not strive to be, or see myself as, a leader of any kind. Hierarchies such as the leader-the led, teacher-student, creator-follower/subscriber feel alien to me. Everyone is both a teacher and a student.
If a fellow human feels so inclined, I say "try it!" when it comes to the sufficiency list and writing your own notes. To analyse my autoethnographic writings, I use the four planes of being framework. It comes from the philosophy of science perspective called critical realism. This framework proposes that everything that exists and unfolds in social reality, does so on the four planes of being: (1) material transactions with nature, (2) social relations, (3) social structures, (4) inner being. I like this framework because it's holistic. Inspired by this framework, I try to be mindful of my practice in terms of all these four domains.
Recently, I was deleting some files from my phone. I try to keep almost nothing in my phone, so every now and then I look into it and delete unnecessary files such as pictures and notes. I discovered my notes from early 2022. I will share them, just as they are, below [this autoethnography that you are reading right now starts in March 2022]. These notes were accompanied by long walks and many inner dialogues and contemplations. Then I decided to write down most of my contemplations, and this is why the autoethnography that you are reading right now looks the way it does.
31.12.21
Soap bar for face &
body
Vaseline
Solid shampoo
Simple soap bar for
washing dishes
Wooden dish brush
Cotton bag for shopping
Don't shop online
Wash kitchen cloths
regularly to keep them clean
Delete unnecessary emails
Minimise e-waste
Tea
04.01.22
My autoethnography makes
me feel in tune with my body.
Tried tea with oat milk, it's really good.
05.01.22
I want to focus on nurturing and mutually kind and harmonious connections.
07.01.22
Now I only have a salve, vaseline, soap and shampoo bar. Hope to find a more natural toothpaste and finish the foamy washing up liquid in plastic. So good to have almost nothing.
13.01.22
I feel it is easier for me to say no to people.
04.02.22
For several days I was just using water and vaseline.
14.03.22
Recently I got some argan
oil and I like it so far. I also recently bought Aleppo soap. It's amazing. I
love the texture, the colour and the fact that it is unscented. It is also
cheaper than other soaps. I use it for my body, face, dish washing, and cleaning.
It works well for everything. Today I bought a new natural toothpaste and a
toothbrush made from recycled plastic and bio bristles. The packaging is
cardboard instead of plastic. Recently I borrowed a few things from the
department: a spoon, a bowl, a mug, three glasses.
03.04.22
I have booked myself in
to get my hair shaved. For ages I wasn't fully comfortable with short hair. Now
I'm looking forward to it. I also took the dish washing liquid to work, it is
pretty popular there. Also, I have been using my Aleppo soap which I love. It
works well for washing dishes, doesn't foam up too much which I appreciate. I
still use argan oil. When I only use water to wash my body and face with, I
actually don't need to moisturise afterwards.
Saying no to people: This
is a big step forward for me. On Saturday a [fellow human] invited me and
someone else to their place. I initially said yes but then I felt so bad about
it. I felt that I had to go but then realised that it really is up to me to
choose and decide. I didn't go. It felt liberating.
08.04.22
Yesterday I went to the
hairdresser who shaved my hair! It feels amazing. It doesn't suit me at all,
but there is something about it that makes me feel very happy. I feel like I
did it for myself only. Now my hair will be regrowing. I am curious how it will
feel and what it will look like.
My skin is so much better
since I quit skincare. These 2 days when I was in the shower, I was thinking
how clean I feel when I only use water and occasionally soap.
When I go to Lund the
week after next, it will be my first time travelling without shampoo.
28.06.22
I got another Aleppo soap for the dishes. And another soap from some Swedish natural brand. This soap contains clay and is unscented. Recently I was thinking of moving again and that made me think of downsizing again. Soon I will go abroad and will bring only the bare essentials with me. In Lund I didn't need more, and with me I took only a very tiny number of things.