Hello and welcome to the MINIMALIST interview series, an initiative to turn the spotlight on the genuine, practising minimalists in our midst.
Aspiring minimalist @honeydue here.
Though I'm drawn to the minimalist ethos, I'm aware I've got a long way to go before I can call myself a true minimalist.
This is why I love this community. It allows me to interact with and learn from people who've embraced the minimalist lifestyle. I want to know how they got here. What drove them to minimalism, and what the challenges and rewards have been? What's the point of this platform if we can't learn from and help one another in our journeys?
Driven by a desperate curiosity of what else might be out there, aside from the bland, consumerist, traditional life path, I put down some questions I'm secretly dying to ask my favourite minimalists. And @millycf1976 has been lovely enough to allow it.
So whether you're at a crossroads in life or just curious about what else is out there, maybe you find some value in our interview series. Enjoy!
For The Minimalist Author Spotlight No. 4, we're putting the focus on @purpleglitter. Let's tune in to hear more about her journey towards being an authentic and practising minimalist.
Some of you may recognize her for her sewing adventures and top-notch needlework, but around these parts, we know @purpleglitter as a minimalist in the truest sense of the world. A kind, loving spirit focused on living in the here and now, she shared with us a couple of thoughts about mindfulness, meaning, and what defines her own approach to minimalism.
Minimalism taught me I can flourish anywhere. @purpleglitter
: While minimalism may appear cut and dry from the outside, we know it takes many different forms. To start things off, could you explain what minimalism means to you, specifically?
@purpleglitter : For me it means having a purposeful life. Getting to enjoy the simplicity of life. It has also meant finding emotional, mental and spiritual well-being, because just as my environment (objects) has been simplified, my mind and thoughts have been simplified.
For me it is also to have my environment clean and tidy, because I see it like this: tidy and clean environment, tidy and clean mind, and vice versa.
It is definitely what has allowed me to understand great things about life and has made me love more the essence of it, what is inside, what is not seen with the naked eye. Therefore my decisions are less superficial or superfluous, because it allows me to see things from an emotional and mental maturity.
Minimalism is what allows me to focus my mind even more on what I need and want for myself.
: We love a good origin story. How did you first get started with minimalism? What were some deciding factors? Was it a gradual shift or an abrupt change? Tell us a bit about that.
@purpleglitter : I remember that by 2020, we were in the middle of the pandemic, I was given the opportunity to do several emotional help workshops. One of them called "Organized Cranial Universe" was a before and after in the way I saw everything in me, from the inside, and also in my environment.
In my case, the realization that what binds us to things could sometimes be emotions and feelings from the past or even the future, was decisive. I understood what beliefs limited me and led me to plan for a future that had not yet arrived, for example.
The change was gradual and at the same time quick, because in a matter of a month I had already achieved many significant changes. What I liked the most was that every day I could do something to simplify my life and my environment until I achieved the satisfaction of feeling myself without objects that stole my time, emotions and spaces. And all this without pressure.
So by letting go, organizing and rearranging these things I could keep my past and my future in balance, enjoying my present gift much more.
A simple life with purpose. @purpleglitter
: Drastic changes bring about new wisdom. What was one thing you learned, after embracing minimalism, that perhaps surprised you?
@purpleglitter : I think what surprised me most was my quick ability to understand and process the true validity of things and detach from them. After all, the value we give to objects and other things in life, for example, is subjective, we give it to ourselves depending on our beliefs and patterns.
So there I was, donating and throwing away things that I had for years and that I considered "valuable" or "necessary" and that I soon realized that in reality they were not. Many of them I don't even remember or need now.
Another thing I learned was what it really meant to live with "necessities", i.e., my life could be simpler than I thought it was. I could have less, not in the sense of being poor, but in the sense of living less from "the desire to have" and more from "the reality of what I need."
: How has your alternative lifestyle affected your role in your community? Was it a reason for conflict, help you make new friends, etc.?
@purpleglitter : I think in a positive way, because it has allowed me to have good interpersonal relationships with my neighbors and to be willing to collaborate in whatever is needed to help a better functioning of the community. For example, thanks to my lifestyle I am a person who produces very little garbage and I use the organic waste to grow crops in my backyard.
It has also allowed me to make new friends, as I have been fortunate enough to meet people who lead similar lifestyles and I have more time available to cultivate those friendships by spending more time with them.
: Who inspired you? Whether it was someone you knew (online or in the “real world”) or some personality you followed online, the author you’d read, etc., who was your no. 1 (human) reason to choose minimalism?
@purpleglitter : Although I couldn't say 100% minimalist, the Japanese Marie Kondo inspired me in a way when I learned about some of her methods to better organize my environment and balance it with my mind. I have applied some of her advice and it has helped me quite a bit to achieve this.
Another thing that inspired me was finding The MINIMALIST community. I already knew what was changing in me, this new thing that was happening to me, but I hadn't named it. Getting a place and people who vibrated with my feeling and new thoughts made me identify what my new lifestyle was called. This gave me great satisfaction and even more meaning.
But I can also tell you that my number one reason for choosing minimalism was myself. Why? Because I felt that I had to change, to improve, to transcend as a human being, I needed to simplify many things. And I had the best: my motivation and my desire to make it happen.
: Minimalism can act a bit like a rolling snowball. One minute, you’re throwing out extra placemats, the next, you’re transitioning to a completely off-grid (perhaps nomadic) lifestyle. Does that statement apply to your personal experience, and how much of it was planned? In other words, did you start downsizing to go off-grid/travelling, or did you spiral deeper into that world, the more you embraced it?
@purpleglitter : I would say a little bit of both. Each time I practiced simplifying in my day to day life, the more I saw other ways to do it. Also, since I have to move from time to time it has certainly been a blessing for me to understand and embrace my new lifestyle.
We have moved several times and each time I move I am leaving items and emotions behind and living with less. This makes me feel less tied to a house, for example, or to a specific place.
Embracing minimalism has allowed me to see that I can be almost anywhere. To flourish wherever I am.
Cleanliness and order make my life that much simpler. @purpleglitter
: Some people find it a scary leap to this alt lifestyle. There’s a concern that if we ditch modern, materialistic dogma, we’ll find ourselves isolated. What was your experience with that?
@purpleglitter :Have you ever watched a caterpillar turn into a butterfly? Well, that transformation does not take it away from society, but rather brings it closer to a large swarm or group of butterflies as beautiful as itself.
This is what has happened to me when I adopted this lifestyle a few years ago. Certainly there will be people who will not understand this decision, as happens with many of the decisions that we human beings make. However, there will be many who will understand what we are doing and in fact will be amazed at how logical our life can now be. This has added value to who I am.
: Finally, a bit of a classic. What’s some practical advice you’d give someone just contemplating a minimalist/alternative lifestyle right now?
@purpleglitter : Consider your process, live it and give yourself the time to do it. Minimalism may be all this for me, but maybe for you it is another way (although being a lifestyle we converge on many points). Try to achieve your own concept, your practices, your balance and your peace, step by step.
Minimalism does not mean a life of boredom and deprivation. On the contrary, it is a life where you will have what is valuable, where you will indulge yourself, where you can feel free and happy, because you will feel connected to the essence of life.
You will be able to help your mind to keep a little more at bay the stress of those who live overwhelmed by wanting to have so many material things or to have them already.
Breathe, trust and take the step. The best awaits you in each one of them 💜
Thank you so much to @purpleglitter for the inspiring words and for taking the time to share her journey with us.
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