Follow your path, not mine

Dear Blog Diary,
It’s not that I own very little. To me, a minimalist is someone who uses everything they own, ideally efficiently.

Home decor is just adults doing show-n-tell, “look at my stuff.” We express who we are with our random bullshit and I love my random bullshit. Every knick knack, piece of art, and plant has deep meaning to me. I could get rid of a lot of books and sweaters.

"Diamonds are valuable because they are rare.”

This is so stupid to me. Just because something is rare doesn’t mean it’s valuable. Just because you have to work hard for a thing, doesn’t mean it’s worthwhile.

You get your wife a diamond because the perceived value and she will be happy…no. Does she even like diamonds? What she wants is the currency. Listen to her, then do whatever you can to make her happy. The same goes for you listening to yourself.

I wonder. I see people consumed in what they want and I wonder why they want it. Is it to project an image? An idea of success in their eyes? Someone else’s?

I love my climbers for this reason. There’s always going to be a baseline of practicality to them. They care about style and colors sure but what they really want is their gear to functionally work 100% of the time. Falling to your death kinda sucks.

What I’m getting at is, care about what YOU think, what is important to YOU.

At best the currency of diamonds would be what the diamonds say about you, given there is a collective agreement that diamonds are valuable. The issue remains, you aren’t thinking for yourself. Or maybe you like diamonds!

You've heard me talk about Musashi Miyamoto, the legendary samurai. He wrote a short work listing principles to live by called "Dokkodo" translated to "The way of walking alone." Ironically, #15 is "do not act following customary beliefs". He also says mastery does not come from grand gesture but through meticulous intention.

Interesting, he chose to include "alone" in the title.

Truly follow your own path and keep dear what/who is important to you with meticulous intention.

But as a minimalist, embrace walking alone.

Best,
E
#ARTiculate