At first, I thought it was all easy. What could living life as a minimalist possibly entail? I felt I just had to cut down on unnecessary activities and viola I would become the latest minimalist on the block but again, I thought wrong. It goes deeper as it involves balancing out everything to avoid losing yourself.
I had an eye opening conversation with one of my cousins and we came to a conclusion that the universe wasn't meant to be balanced but at least, we could always try to maintain a reasonable proportion. One can't always get a 50-50 situation all the time as there would be sprinkles of 60-40, 56-44 and the likes.
For as long as I can remember, I have always liked following a schedule. A very rigid schedule made by me and on days when something goes wrong, I get thrown out of balance. This kept happening and eventually I realised that it was because I didn't make room for dynamism.
Sometime ago when I was undergoing an AP program for college, I went to the campus with the mindset that I wasn't there to play around, make friends or lollygage and so my schedule became even more rigid. Wake up, eat, attend lectures, come back to the lodge, take a nap, read, eat, sleep and repeat. One thing with me is that, once I set a standard that I feel is right, I always follow through unless someone gives me reasons not to.
I lived in a lodge with nine people but none of my lodgemates knew me. I was out before they woke up and in before they returned – I was basically invisible. I thought that being invisible would contribute positively to my minimalistic lifestyle–and it did– but for some time. I avoided a whole lot of drama, stress and I was always on time for important academic gatherings. But as you would imagine, being invisible took a turn on me. There was no balance of any sort.
We could all agree that for there to be balance, there has to be harmony, rhythm and happiness, but at that time, I lacked all those things. Although my academic life was perfect, my social life was a mess. The was no rhythm talk less of happiness. Taking our daily activities as a chore totally takes away the fun and little happiness that these activities bring. On a normal day, studying would be fun for me but I took it as a chore and that was were I got it all wrong.
Day after day, I repeated my schedule until one Sunday. I heard a knock on my door. I only spoke with two girls who happened to be my friends from way back and these girls went home for the weekend, so, I was wondering who it was at my door. I stalled a bit to see if the person would leave but the knock was persistent and so I gave in.
I opened the door and to my utmost surprise, it wasn't just a person. It seems my lodgemates had a meeting about me and they took it upon themselves to talk to me. As I opened my door, they walked in one after the other like they were being controlled. I had just one chair in my room so some of them laid on my bed and the rest found their spot in the floor.
They started their mini gathering's opening speech with the fact that I always laughed so hard whenever I had my friends (two of them) around but on other days, I was totally gloomy and out of rhythm. They weren't wrong.
It's funny how nine people came to address my minimalism and how I had over-done it. That was just the push I needed. I decided it was high time I tried to bring back the colour and balance to my life. This didn't make me any less of a minimalist rather, it brought the proportional rhythm and happiness to my life.
I always felt like relating with people would somehow get me distracted and my scores would drastically reduce but on the contrary, reading became more fun. I left that campus with great score in my AP courses and a healthy relationship with many people.Sometimes, the balance that we so seek is right around the corner and we may need a little help finding it (or in my case, help from nine). Once you attain balance, you would be an embodiment of rhythm, happiness and harmony.
This post was inspired by the #kiss blog idea which can be found here. Thank you for your time.
With love, wongi ✨