(originally posted on 10/01/20)

Today marks the three year anniversary of documenting my minimalist journey. So, for the third time, this is my documentation of minimalism and how its helped me in the past year since my last article.

Me and my family joke that if minimalism had a spokesperson or a “preacher” – it would be me. Like, I mean no harm by it, but no matter what sort of ailment people have, I’ll no doubt be able to mention minimalism:

“You feel stressed? Have you ever thought about minimalism?”

“Oh no! You broke your favourite mug? Well now you can enlmbrace minimalism!”

“You broke your leg by tripping over your child’s lego set? You know, have you ever heard of minimalism?”

“Your fish died?… Minimalist fish bowl…?”

Everyone in my family now knows me and accepts me. And I’ve been practicing minimalism for so long now that I have somewhat made a name for myself. Everyone knows me as that person who owns “practically nothing”. My family realised I have so much time to spend making good friends with good people. And I have managed to accumulate thousands in my savings account and as an almost 21 year old, it’s safe to say that the world is my oyster. Something in which my family are green with envy about.

Well, over the past year, even they would of surprised you. I have mentioned many times in the past how much my parents didn’t understand my minimalist ways. Which I have noticed is an ongoing issue with a lot of young minimalists.

In the first article I wrote, I spoke about how my parents thought minimalism was “a bunch of loons living in a shack”. At the end of that article, I listed their many candles and towels they owned, along with their many other… Collections.

A little while later I wrote a comedic poem that over 100 people seemed to love and I’m so thankful for that! Poetry has always beeny go-to passion. And in that I mentioned how they owned far too many candles and how they even kept toy marbles in the medicine drawer.

Well, over the past year, I’ve been busy with my own thing, yanno, living my best life and all that malarkey. But when I checked in with them, there was not a single candle… Anywhere. Could it be..? The cupboards were clutter free, and I even think they discarded a towel or two. This must be too good to be true… I opened the medicine drawer… NO MARBLES!

Instead, my parents told me the story of how they sold their candles and clutter. They showed me photographs on their phones on all their trips they had been on while I was busy, using the money they acquired from their designer candles and what not. But, in these pictures, they look… Happy.

“you inspired us, Alex” my mum said, emotionally.

That was the first time we hugged in years.

I’ve been just… chilling since then. Becoming a minimalist has helped me in so many ways. It made me be able to truly reflect on myself. I now for sure that I am gender fluid, with more guy days than girl days. Some of my family supports it, though I have lost many people due to it. Which did hurt at first. But then I started to think back about what The Minimalists said: “you can’t change the people around you, but you can change the people around you”.

I realised that is people weren’t going to accept me, that is their own fault. I can’t change how they think of me, nor can I change their opinions. That is out of my control. But I can, however, control who is in my life, the people that I keep close to me. As harsh as it sounds, sometimes you have to drop people if they become toxic. I was very respectful when doing this, and they understood for the most part. But, as haeartbreaking as that is, I needed to remember that when one door closes, another one opens.

I had to drop a toxic friendship this year. It was painful, but he was never going to accept me for who I now was. I never wanted to admit to myself that he was homophobic, transphobic, and who knows what else. When I told him I was trans* (non-binary), I did it over text, as I was too scared to do it any other way. I’m not good with my words verbally. He called me a freak, a sick f*ck. And second guessed me.

Eventually, I found solitude again as I always do. I’m working on a capsule wardrobe at the moment. Just figuring out the colour scheme I want for it. I use to have a capsule wardrobe a few years back, but when you’re travelling, the few bits and pieces you borrow from people and forget to give back sure do mount up… I’ll be sure to post my capsule wardrobe when it’s completed (so sometime within this decade, I hope!).

I’m also trying to convince my parents into letting me put all their photos in this big photo album That they got for Christmas. As, we have downsized a lot, and living in a small apartment, they know just as well as anyone, that they don’t have the room for all the boxes of photographs they have stored under their bed, I’ve been itching to put them all into one neat book for over a year now, and I think they’re finally coming round to the idea! So I’ll be sure to update everyone with that. Maybe this year, maybe next, who knows at this point. I don’t post much.

At the moment, I’m making the space to have a happy space. Filled with happy things. Not pointless dusty items, instead, photos of me and the people I care about. I also put my paint in matching jars. Bit random I know. But it looks so much better and minimalistic. Though, I’m just trying to use up what I have, then I will not get anymore as I would of already finished all my pending art projects by then.

Do you all remember my niece Lexi? I mentioned her a lot in my “How Did I Find Minimalism” blog post, on how when she was born, the fact I became a minimalist at such a young age (started decluttering at age 10), I was able to spend a lot more meaningful time with Lexi, and watch her grow a lot as an infant.

I then spoke about her in my follow up blog where I shared how she was now aged 8, and had started lying to people, just so they would buy her the things she wanted. I also spoke about how she had far far too many clothes that she had zero respect for. It angered me.

She’s now almost 11 years old (woah I feel old) and one day, not too long ago, she came down the stairs with all the stuffed animals she’s hoarded I’ve the years.

“Can we donate these to a charity shop?” she queried.

I almost spat our my drink.

She decided she wanted to donate all of her toys as she knew she was too old for them. And her and her parents have actively noticed that she is less distracted overall, and she concentrates better in school and when doing her homework. Now her grades are soaring.

I always like to check in and write a detailed blog post every year or so, just to document my minimalist journey. I know this one isn’t as long as some of them but there comes a point where I would just be repeating myself.

The Sims 4 just dropped a trailer the other day about a new game expansion called “Tiny Living”. I got far too excited over this. Not because I actively always play the game, but I was excited because minimalism is actually being noticed on extreme levels, for example by game companies. Which is a rally big things for the movement.

I do promise to make more (meaningful) posts this year. As I mentioned, I have a lot of stiff I can talk about. But until then, thank you for reading.