Using Minimalism to Prepare for an Uncertain Future

What will your world look like in 2020?

Just ten years from today, we can be living in a very different world: to mention a few changes, it is very well possible that rising oil prices (due to peak oil and the fast growth of a global middle class made of people dying to become consumers) make our cars useless, that ecological disasters (because of climate change) happen more often than before, and that many people run out of clean water.

And on top of all this, we have a global economy that still hasn’t recovered from its latest crash. Some say this is it and it will never get back to how it was.

We don’t know what is in store for us, yet we live as we could carry on living like this forever. We compete to keep up with our neighbors’ level of consumption, and even our governments encourage us to spend money on things we don’t need — to keep the economy running, they say.

While this might make sense on a national scale, it is never a sustainable solution an individual. And it’s turning out that when we look at the world as a whole, it doesn’t make much sense either: this blue planet is getting too small for our minivans and Happy Meal toys.

Minimalism offers a better solution:

1. Minimalism frees you to live with less: In a world where there is no such thing as a safe job, any day might be the day when you have to start living from your savings. With average spending habits, they won’t last for long. But when you look at someone who has made the jump to minimalism, you see a different story: When Everett Bogue quit his job to start his minimalist business, he didn’t need to save tens of thousands of dollars to feel safe. 1500 or less per month was just enough to keep him going!
2. Minimalism frees you to save money: When you live with less, you can start saving money instead of getting into more debt. This way you have something that can support you when the unexpected happens.
3. Minimalism frees you to live and work anywhere: If the world gets really crazy, you will feel much safer knowing that your home isn’t tied to a single location but you can pick the place that suits you best (and a location independent life isn’t bad in good times, either!).
4. Minimalism frees you to support your community: Today, we are all so very busy all the time that things like getting to know your neighbors, organizing events for local kids, or volunteering to help the ones in need don’t feel like things you would devote your precious time to. But when you really think of it, they are the very things where your time is best spent on! In a minimalist lifestyle you free up time for things that matter by giving up things that just pull you down. And in tomorrow’s world, the need for helping hands isn’t going down!
5. Minimalism can keep us from getting to this point in the first place: It’s getting late in the game, but if we move quickly, there is a small chance we can still change the course our civilization is on. I’m an optimist by nature, and even though I constantly see myself fail in changing my ways, I still believe it is possible for all of us to start living more meaningful lives that bring people closer to each other, making the world a more equal and peaceful place. A place where there is room for developing countries to develop and for us to live fully instead of just spending money on the illusions of life.

I am not a perfect example of a minimalist, but I have bought into the idea and day by day work my way into becoming one. I will be writing a lot  more about minimalism in my future posts, so if you want to follow my journey, subscribe to my RSS feed.