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< The Pursuit of Less: Anyone Else on This Journey?
Having just stopped in briefly this morning on his way to work, Tracker's ears prick up as he overhears the conversation on minimalism happening among several patrons standing around in a loose-knit group near the middle of the room. He waves to the ~bartender and requests a glass of ice water with muddled mint leaves, a little maple syrup, and a slice of lemon. Truly the taste of early summer.
"Morning, ~aftergibson. I empathize with your minimalist journey. For many a year, I prided myself on being able to fit all of my belongings in my vehicle in the event of a move. I slept in a sleeping bag on the floor in my apartment, worked on my laptop at a tiny folding table, kept all my clothes neatly rolled on a little blanket, and owned only a small number of reference books, preferring to borrow pleasure reading books from the local library. Once I had moved into a city, I donated my car to a local charity and went everywhere on my road bike for almost a decade. Having less possessions left me with more time and energy to dedicate to each of them and more mental clarity around what I wanted to do with my time."
He pauses to take a sip of his drink, and then with a pleased look on his face, he takes another.
"That was a decade ago now though. Since then, I moved off-grid in the forested mountains and built my homestead. I own a lot more things now than I did when I lived in a little city apartment, but I feel that most of the things that I own really are necessary to take care of my homestead and provide for all of my needs. It turns out that you just need more things when you are trying to be more self-sufficient. However, I do still like to go through my little yurt and my outbuildings top to bottom each year and dig out anything that I'm not using anymore, so that I can find a new home for it. There are some things that I've been having trouble letting go of, like some really nice reference books that I used a lot in the past but don't really need anymore. I'm working myself up to it though. There's still plenty of low-hanging fruit around here that I can purge."
Tracker tips back his flatcap and takes another long drink.
"One of the areas that you might not think of right away that can be really satisfying to declutter is your electronic life. I develop scientific software for a living, so sitting in front of a computer all day during the week is the norm for me. However, I make a point of spending very little extra time on my computer each day. (I make a small exception for Astrobotany and The Midnight Pub, which maybe eat up about 15-20 minutes each day.) Basically, I have a short checklist of things I need to do on my computer outside of work and zip through it each morning. Then at the end of my workday, I shut my computer down and shift back into the real world for the rest of the evening. I don't have (and never had) any social media accounts, and I have a LightPhone II (https://www.thelightphone.com), which doesn't have any always-connected apps or notifications, so I can focus on taking care of my homestead and spending time with my partner in the mornings, evenings, and weekends. I'm not perfect, and every now and again, something shiny on the internet catches my attention briefly, but I just try not to make it a habit. Ultimately, less is more when it comes to screen time, and there's a lot of life to live out there that I don't want to miss."
With a smile, Tracker sits back on a barstool and resumes his drink.