What Does Minimalism Mean in a Pandemic?
There’s a Silver Lining in Society’s Collective Slow-Down
The following was originally published in Enough-ism: This Minimalist Wants More and the Enough-ism Podcast.
Let’s begin with two little words: “social distancing.” This phrase first appeared online around 20 years ago (in 2003 to be exact). The World Health Organization has used a very similar phrase you may have also heard called “physical distancing.” Obviously, social versus physical have very different connotations. (That being said, the social often leads to the physical…) But, regardless, both phrases boil down to our basic ability and desire to stay away from people — but also from things.
Many people, including those who aren’t minimalists by any stretch of the imagination, are experiencing their first foray into minimalism during the pandemic, just because of how the world is changing and evolving more in that direction.
I can’t show you the money. I’m broke.
Take consumerism, which is shifting dramatically amidst COVID-19. As a result, many people are finding themselves kind of becoming minimalists by default. Instead of spending afternoons swiping across people’s pretend #nofilter fantasies on Instagram or stalking people’s dogs that they met once three years ago on Facebook, people are suddenly prioritizing needs over wants.
Life is becoming about the basics. And, people are having to get creative as their lives enter various stages of upheaval, discomfort, and transformation.
Money is becoming a scarce commodity for more people, regardless of their backgrounds and income levels. An estimated 10 percent of people don’t have a savings account. (I don’t know how many of these people have cash stashed under their mattress as their retirement plan of choice, which I feel like perhaps needs to be pondered upon.)
I knew someone like this. He spent most of his money on unreasonably overpriced sushi. (I feel that’s the start of a whole different book, maybe something that I’d title, I don’t know, “The Man Who Smelled Like $40 Nori But Didn’t Have 40 Cents.”)
Anywho…Think again about that number. (Not the $40 nori, but the 10 percent.) Additionally, most of these people who had no savings — three in four of them, to be exact — said this is because they don’t have enough money…or…make enough money to save.
(I do feel like that study needs clarifying. Like, someone saying, “I don’t have enough money,” seems perhaps very lazy. Whereas, “I don’t make enough money,” seems like the start of a Soprano’s episode.)
Onwards…thirty-nine percent of these people had to use their savings — about a third of their savings, on average, that is — during COVID-19 to just pay for the basics of life. Most spent their savings on needs — food, utilities and rent, credit card debt, student loans, car payments, and healthcare costs topped the list.
No surprise, perhaps. Life is freaking expensive. According to StreetEasy’s “Manhattan Rent Index,” for the first time in a decade, average rents for a Manhattan apartment in June of 2020 dropped to $3,300 a month from about $3400 a month in June of 2019. Now, this is just one tiny example and clearly NYC is not representative of the greater U.S.
But…continuing on this theme, even over in Canada, for instance, (shout-out to Canadian queen, Celine Dion) the average cost of living in each major city there is reportedly $45,000 (I believe this is $US, that is). You might say, “Hmmm. Well, that’s…better?” There’s a catch. That’s just for one person. (And, yes, to the person reading this who brags about being from a tiny town in the Midwest “only three hours from the nearest city-like town” and pays $150 a month including all utilities for a nine-bedroom farm with glittering lemon trees, a Christmas tree farm, unicorns, and an infinity pool shaped like Beyonce on a good day, being a New Yorker, I both say to you, “But, I could never live without the comforts of city life,” and also, “Damn, I could live without the comforts of city life.”)
So in short, money is something, even as a minimalist, I’m happy to hoard.
Shop until the stores drop
The tantalizing allure of spending money you may not have to impress people you probably don’t like has diminished substantially since COVID hit. Hey, if you’re rolling your eyes at that as a shopaholic during a pandemic — hey, ain’t no shame — except…spoiler alert. Your favorite store may no longer exist.
Over 11,000 stores, have closed so far in 2020. Says Forbes:
“Debt is the common enemy.”
As of July, many big names went bankrupt — names like Bose, Starbucks (wait…a world without pumpkin spice lattes too sweet to drink but too expensive not to could be reality, you tell me?), Victoria’s Secret, Walgreens, Walmart, and Zara started closing many of their stores. Others went bankrupt, including J. Crew, Sears, AT&T, and Bed Bath & Beyond.
Speaking of people’s beds, people’s baths, and people’s beyonds, people are now asking deep questions (about their beyonds that is): Namely, what do I need and what do I want?
Take “back to school shopping” — a phrase that sounded pretty benign what feels like a decade ago, back in 2019. This year, 83 percent of “back to school” shoppers plan to buy items to protect their children, like cleaning supplies, masks, disposable silverware, and hand sanitizer. Masks and children usually make you think of Halloween, not a daily clothing item.
In the meantime, in some parts of the world, hurricane season is about to hit. (By the way, are you still here? Cool. Stay with me here, this narrative will get optimistic soon, I promise.) Florida retailers say they are making sure to stock up their shelves for if a hurricane hits. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in case you were wondering, actually has an entire section of their website called Natural Disasters, Severe Weather, and COVID-19 which (vaguely) emphasizes the importance of stocking up on essentials.)
Will future bragging rights entail being able to say, “I survived the toilet paper apocalypse of my lifetime?” Maybe.
But future bragging rights may also be about a lack of regret during hard times. I don’t regret something many may find odd to regret: being minimalist in a pandemic and not having a walk-in pantry with enough canned tomatoes, bottled water, and lemon-scented Purell to last me into the new Millennium and beyond (beds, baths, and all). Because I’m also a #minimalist in a pandemic where any obscure item I can think of wanting to own is like five clicks away and will come to your door in 48 or less from overseas. So, there’s that rationale, however you interpret it.
Am I crazy? Yep.
But, good news: you can be a minimalist and even hoard things either not during a pandemic or especially during a pandemic. Take wine. According to a survey from YouGov, 20 percent of Americans are drinking more because of social distancing and self-quarantine.
I’m telling you all this, because one key takeaway to remember for the ages is that the concept of #minimalism is changing during a pandemic. People are asking deep questions: What do I need? What do I want? These aren’t just questions about our things and our bills to pay for these things. They’re questions about our lives, our purposes, and our passions. Who we spend our time with. What we spend our time on. No matter who you are and what your circumstance, our collective ability to think about things like this and makes decisions accordingly is our common ground.
Doing nothing is bomb dot com
My biggest awakening spiritually during COVID-19 has been that it’s okay to be still. On a Friday night in the Summer of 2020, the city is quiet. The bars are closed. The clubs are closed. It’s freeing in a sense. There’s no pressure to be #social. In a #Instagram world, it’s a sigh of #relief.
Has the pandemic made a mockery out of minimalism? Well, I’m not sure, but according to the Atlantic, “the pandemic has made a mockery out of minimalism.” Says Spencer Kornhaber:
“Everywhere you look, there’s deletion. The streets have been cleared of bustle. Masks replace that most idiosyncratic thing, the human face, with blankness. Protective gear renders medical teams into interchangeable forms. In ICUs, ventilators and tubes obscure the faces of patients. Grocery-store aisles are picked over, yawning and vacant. The attempts to counter the overwhelming stillness and sparseness can sometimes worsen it. … People for whom coronavirus isolation is relatively serene tend to be lucky enough to be able to work from home, or rich enough to not need to work at all. There’s something misanthropic in celebrating isolation when the un-isolated risk infection; it calls back to the way that ‘self-care’ has been, in recent years, evangelized to endorse callousness toward others.”
These compelling words will likely elicit a reaction in you. Pay attention to what that feeling is and let it reverberate within you for a bit.
What does minimalism mean in a pandemic? It means the world is changing, and so is your role in it. What can you do next? Socially distance, physically distance, or keep your spiritual distance away from what doesn’t add value to your well-being. (By the way, all three have major crossover with each other, and that’s important to ponder on, too.)
Also, consider a quote from Mister Rogers:
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
I think about that quote a lot, and I’m writing these very words because I am inspired by all the good that I’m seeing during a time of turmoil. I hope no matter what you’re going through right now, even though we don’t know each other, we can inspire each other.
And may you be inspired to do the same and not only consume and get, but to create and give.
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Thanks for reading this excerpt from Enough-ism: This Minimalist Wants More. Can’t get enough of Enough-ism? ❈ Visit IAmEnoughism.com ❈ and follow @IAmEnoughism on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Medium.
About the author: Yugen Bond, B.Msc., is a metaphysics writer, podcast host, and reiki master who once despised meditation, had both too much and nothing to wear, and didn’t know how to slow down her thoughts. What a journey it’s been. Time to share it with the world, especially with you. Business inquiries: enoughismpodcast@gmail.com.