To me, freedom is the most important concept when it comes to living a minimalist lifestyle. I have a burning desire to live as freely as possible. One People,Not Stuff reader named Tony, who blogs at Regards From The Balcony, wrote a comment in my post about “Creating Significant Positive Change.” Tony writes:

I think generally the less encumbered you are with material things, the more freedom you will have. On relationships, well, now that’s a tricky one, they tend to “encumber” one far more than things. Can I throw you a bone to chew on – is anyone in a relationship truly free? Is anyone who has a child free? What exactly does freedom mean?

Excellent question worth contemplating, especially if you consider yourself somebody who is or would like to live a minimalist lifestyle. Understanding what your own personal definition of freedom gives you the ability to center your focus on actually achieving it. Minimalism is designed so that you can create more freedom in your life.

So what is freedom? The true meaning of freedom has been debated since philosophers roamed ancient Greece and Rome. Your personal definition of freedom most likely differs from mine, but each perspective is valid. Tony’s question got me thinking, and to me, I view freedom as something that occurs on two levels: physically and mentally.

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Physical Freedom: This is the ability for an individual to act as they desire, without outside constraint or impediment. It’s having agency to use your body and it’s capabilities as you deem fit and not being denied full access to changing and using the physical properties of the world around you. Physical freedom is a tangible entity.

Mental Freedom: This type of freedom often looms as a precursor to physical freedom because our mental thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs generally determine our actions — which sets the foundation of physical freedom. To me, mental freedom remains much more rare than physical freedom. Our school education system, parental teaching, religious doctrines, and societal pressures each tell us their version of how and why things are they way they are. Mental freedom involves you as an individual being simultaneously aware of these institutional teachings, while also being independent from them in your thought.

Mental freedom intimately involves truth. If you are living a lie, or find yourself outwardly agreeing with other people’s vision of life but secretly feeling their wrong, or denying to yourself what you see and feel, then it’s impossible to attain mental freedom.  For those who achieve mental freedom, the result is clarity. The way our world works, clarity can be elusive because our mental focus is often centered on things that constrain us rather than free us. Fear is the biggest barrier towards mental clarity. This fear can manifest itself for minimalists in physical and mental ways with actions and thoughts such as:

I need more stuff so I can feel more self-value. I can’t live a minimalist lifestyle because it’s different from what many other people do. I am better than other people because I am a “minimalist.” Or actions such as hoarding, the opposite perspective of being afraid to own anything, and consuming rather than reusing.

So in a nutshell, freedom to me is a combination of awareness + truth + fearlessness + independence.

For me, minimalism is only the vehicle to get me to Freedom.

One of the important questions I have is what do I really want? I am realizing creating significant positive change is an issue of great importance for me.  It’s difficult for me to articulate what I mean exactly by significant positive change but defining the term is crucial if I’m ever going to achieve it.

It’s probably easier for to start out what I don’t mean when I say create significant positive change.

I do not just want to put a smile on somebody’s face of brighten up their day.

I don’t mean working anonmously through an organization and not seeing the fruits of my labor.

I want to wake people up in some way. I want people to become empowered to make changes to their lives they have always desired.

I want to join or build a community of people connected and working together to take the steering wheel of their own lives.

I want people to believe at their core they were not put on Earth only to follow a pattern of: Birth –> School –> Job –> Buy Stuff –> Maybe Marriage & Kids —> Old —-> Death.  Those things aren’t bad to me, but I don’t believe they bring happiness by themselves. I think everybody needs a sense of purpose. Or at least I do.

I do not think I’m alone in my thoughts. But if so, why do many people not make changes to their life? I think it’s because they believe it’s not possible — for themselves.

Here are some excuses I have made for myself in the past about why creating significant possible change isn’t possible:

1) I only have a little bit of money

2) Nobody is supporting me

3) I don’t know what services I would use to help others

4) It’s going to take a lot of time and effort — I might fail

5) I’m not going to be respected or my efforts taken seriously

While some of these excuses might appear in my head during difficult times, right now I am at the stage of “where there is a will, there is a way.” I think that as individuals, we are all more powerful than we realize. I think it’s up to us to realize this fact, and take appropriate action.

Since I began my journey, I have been wondering whether minimalism and it’s philosophy appeals more to women?

I know that within the minimalist/simplicity community there are definitely prominent male bloggers like Everett Bogue, Leo Babauta, and Joshua Becker. But from what I’ve seen following other blogs , commenters, and people who have emailed me — there are significantly more women involved within the minimalist social circle.

Whether this observation says more about the people I have come across in the community or is a reflection of an actual trend I’m not certain.  Ultimately, I don’t believe it’s good or bad for one gender to dominate the minimalist community. My only question would be, if so, why is that?

I’m trying to think of what’s expected of me as a young man by society. Supposedly as a male, I’m supposed to want to dominate the area I’m in, acquire as much as I can to show my status, and use as many resources as possible to reflect power.

LOL – that’s not me. Or really what my definition of minimalism is about.

Are more women adopting a minimalist mindset? Could those societal expectations about what a man is supposed to be turn away many would-be male minimalists?

‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” is a famous poem by Gil Scott-Heron.

I think Mr. Scott-Heron’s attempting to tell people that if you want change, or a “revolution”, it’s not going to happen from being idle watching television. For a long time I’ve wanted to try to stop watching television, or at least significantly cutback. From August 5th – August 11th , I decided I was going to test myself and give up the television cold turkey. Going in, one of my greatest fears was that not having a television was going to leave me bored and restless. I felt ashamed for holding that belief and also for being so attached to a box with moving pictures.

On August 5th, I finished the 20 minute walk from the train station to my house. The day’s grind left me exhausted and I just wanted relief. My hand automatically reached for the remote and my right index finger was about to follow it’s familiar routine:  Cable >> Power >> TV >> Power.  Then I realized I wasn’t supposed to be watching television. Why the hell did I sign up to do this? my mind complained. Being honest, that day I probably would have just watched television if I hadn’t already told everybody I was stopping for the week. Realization #1 – Television watching is ingrained more than I knew.

So instead of watching television, I worked up a sweat at the gym even though my body was already tired. After the workout, I looked around my room and contemplated what to do next. I decided to prepare for a job interview I had for the following week and also read a book. I felt proud of myself for sticking to my gameplan and not caving to my desire to watch television. I knew that if something within me was craving television that much, I desperately needed to give it up — at least for a week. I made it through the rest of the first day unscathed, but unfortunately, they say the second day is the hardest to begin any new habit.

Photo Credit: Let's Get Fit To Focus

The next day was Friday and the start of the weekend which I knew offered a dangerous threat to my television-free weekend. The weekend challenges everybody trying to break free from television because days off from work generally provide much more free time. And free time can easily lead to TV time. Realization #2 -I quickly realized the key was to become busy. Friday night was very low key. Without television, I was able to catch-up in depth with many blogs I enjoy reading — including some minimalist ones. I also devoted more time to my job interview. Interestingly enough, I rediscovered how much I enjoy listening to the sports talk radio personalities by streaming the broadcast live through the Web.

For me, Saturday marked a turning point. Without television wasting my time I:

* Met up with a childhood friend and went to the movies early, *Enjoyed an encouraging meeting with my team members of goal-setters, *Got in an exhausting but needed workout, *Worked on People, Not Stuff, *Cleaned my laundry, *Participated in an intense mock interview, *Went to the Phillies game instead of watching it on TV, *Met a new friend, *Called an old college close friend, *Received an invite to meet with the Mayor’s press secretary,  *Opted out of junk mail and credit card offers, *Relaxed in complete silence.

The Television Free Minimalism Week has left me much busier than usual (in a positive way) and I enjoy feeling more like an active participant in my life instead of watching others live theirs.  Everything hasn’t been perfect since I stopped watching television. Yesterday, Day #7, I definitely watched the clock and thought about looking at television after midnight. But the desire wasn’t something strong and I didn’t feel like I was missing out if I didn’t turn on the TV. I’m split on whether I will continue the Television Free Minimalism Week for an extended period of time. I watched about an hour of TV today and caught up with some events going on in the sports world. If there is one this exercise has made me realize, it’s TV is a master at tricking people into thinking they are missing out on something. I know I felt this way. But my life quality improved without television — it can’t be a coincidence. With football season only 5 weeks away, I know I’m going to watch. So I’m leaning towards declaring Sunday as my TV day and letting go of the rest.

Advice If You Are Thinking of Giving Up TV:

1)  Rent It - What I mean is don’t think you have to go cold turkey for 6 months. Try living without TV for a week or two just to see how you feel and what changes occur. Don’t feel like you’re locked in forever. If you find TV is adding value to your life, than there’s no harm in watching.

2) Stay Busy – Boredom can easily lead to the desire to scratch the TV itch. You gain additional minutes that were previously devoted for TV. So you will quickly realize that you seem to have more time on your hands. Find ways to keep busy. I found it challenging at first but much easier and fun as the week progressed.

3) Tell Other People – I think one of the things that helped me was making my goal widely known. I didn’t want to have to face people and tell them I couldn’t make it. A little social pressure doesn’t hurt.

As a self-described minimalist, I sure take a lot of time to write about things.

But in reality people is the most important aspect in my life. In particular, I have been thinking about the power of friendships. I know specifically, Generation Y members often consider close friends as extended family members. I live in a Western-dominated society that places a high value-characteristic on the individual. Fair or not, those who produce and achieve while appearing to do so on their own are considered very important and the epitome of success. I have an ego too. I take an enormous sense of pride when I act independently and thrive. I enjoy feeling self-sufficient because it’s something that can’t be taken away from me because I created the appropriate actions. But I understand, ultimately, nobody achieves anything of value solely by themselves. Many of our actions, beliefs, and ideas have a foundation originating from someone else. True independence is very rare.

The minimalism path can often be lonely. The path can also be extremely liberating and provide a deeper foundation for the things that truly matter — People. To me, genuine friendships are vital towards living a happy life and for the development of the self. As minimalists, there are 4 must-have friendships to have:

Photo Credit: Archi Expo

The Supporter Friend - This friend is the one who always has you’re back. When the world seems to conspire to personally ruin your day, this friend always picks up your phone calls to listen to you vent. This friend’s genuine concern for your well-being allows you to feel compassion not only from others, but also for yourself. Although not necessarily a best friend, this person’s contagious positive energy can be the remedy for minimalism’s and life’s’ inevitable difficult times. This person is a reliable rock that’s always in your corner to cheer you on.

The Weird Friend – This friend is the one who might be considered ‘strange’ if you were to introduce them to different friends from your social circle. This person comes up with things you would have never bothered to think of in 1,000 years. Their brain simply operates on a different track than yours. This friend is very important to a minimalist because they force you to look at the world with a viewpoint entirely foreign to your own. With this person, you contain the ability to view events from a vastly alternate perspective; giving you the power to also look at your own actions and discover more efficient and healthy ways to live that you can adopt as a minimalist.

The Skeptic Friend – You remark, “this weather is going to be great!”, they reply, “Yeah but I bet it’s going to rain.” Or you say, “Wow, that’s the best song I’ve heard in awhile”, they reply, “She can’t actually sing, they just put the backup vocals really high and she lip-syncs.” The skeptic friend might appear to be a downer initially to others but this person is an asset to a minimalist. Many people interested in minimalism read numerous sources about the subject — most of which are informative and interesting, but some ideas don’t make much sense or aren’t really helpful at all. The skeptic friend makes sure the minimalist doesn’t get too carried away and has a sense of what’s real and what’s fluff. Additionally, it’s easy to believe something when it’s not being challenged, but the the skeptic friend forces you to really examine what you hold to be true. If you can successfully hold your position about some subset of your minimalist path, than you know it’s something that has true personal merit.

The Fun One — I think this person might be the most important one. The Fun One is the friend who always seems to have a good time. They can be shopping for groceries, conversing at a party, waiting for the subway — this person always somehow manages to have a fun time. When you’re out with this friend, they are always running into people they know and strangers chat with them. They simply just bring the fun. This person is important because I think it’s so easily to get caught up into removing things, not watching TV(raising hand), and being a ‘minimalist’, that losing sight of the fact that life isn’t a seriously deadly affair and it’s meant to be FUN and enjoyed occurs.Those activities are great, but they are just a means to an end. Fun isn’t a word generally associated with minimalism and The Fun One keeps things light and reminds you to just enjoy the moment.

If you can think of any other Friend Musts For Minimalists, please comment!

I’m going into personal uncharted waters and thinking of giving up my T.V. — at least for a week.

This decision might not sound particularly adventurous but, for me, I’ve always had a television. When I finished my inventory, I made the decision to keep my television. But the more I’m thinking about it, I want to see just how good life can be without a television. I’m afraid that I’m going to be bored during the downtime when I would normally tune into a program, but I’m willing to give it a shot.

There are people I know who live with without a television and enjoy it:

Sheri from MinimalistOC and Courtney from Be More With Less to name two.

But I am a huge sports fan. I’ve played sports all my life — even during college. I honestly don’t believe I can live without watching sports because it’s a part of who I am and it’s an activity I enjoy.  But, I do want to get rid of television for several reasons:

Encourages Unnecessary Purchases – Most television programs promote a lifestyle focused on materialism and excess. Although I generally only watch sports and some education channels, I also watch different shows. I’m sick of watching commercials forcefully trying to persuade me to buy things I don’t need or particularly want.  No television, no commercials.

Save More Time – The time I spend watching television could be spent on something else. That time doesn’t even have to be for something “productive” but can be used for leisure, working on a personal hobby, or something other than being blasted by commercials.

Generate My Own Opinions – A sneaky thing about television that’s not often discussed is just how much lifestyles, thoughts, and opinions about the way people ‘should’ act and live are reflected through most programs. Television has a way to normalize human behavior, even if it’s scripted. Many people try to live their lives like the people on television do. That’s a problem because the people are acting. Even the people on the news and in ‘reality’ programs. Maybe without television, I can produce authentic thoughts.

So even though I still have some reservations about not watching television, I figure I can’t know until I try. So starting August 5th, I’m going television-less for 7 days. No sports, no news, no Jersey Shore (joke). It’ll be interesting to see if I feel differently or exactly the same. At the end of the 7 days, I’ll be at a better reference point to make a decision about whether I’ll continue.

Also, if you live television free or have thought about doing so – please leave a comment. I’d like to hear your story.