Intentionalism

Out of curiosity, I was looking at some minimalism videos on YouTube yesterday. The concept intrigues me but its far from perfect. But I noticed that one of the videos featured the two gentlemen behind “The Minimalists” podcast, and they were talking about minimalism being more than a word and that there’s no right way or wrong way necessarily to go about it, then they noted the word “intentionalism”. I really like this. 

I cleaned out my closet again yesterday, I had held on to a number of items that I realized no longer had any chance of fitting, being helpful, useful, or having potential. From old purses, to shirts and a sweater or 2, plus leftover notes from high school, I was happy to get rid of some things. The thing is I also like having options, and not knowing what kind of climate I may be in in the future, has led me to believe that its okay, and good for me to hold on to a couple more things then a typical minimalist might.

I don’t think I’d actually call myself a minimalist but I like this other word: intentionalism. I think it goes beyond things and into a general attitude toward life that promotes living life to the fullest, and being very aware of your choices and habits, while, for me, understanding that God’s in control of all of it. 

You see, I enjoy clothes, my collections, and having some old notes around for at least a little while, I keep my space neat and tidy otherwise, but I think I’d be more mad at myself for throwing things away that I enjoy taking out a couple times a year. This is a delicate balance though and you should never let things take over your life or home for that matter. Limiting yourself to certain places/spaces, and not allow your piles to grow bigger could be a very valuable metric for this, its like how I know that I need to get rid of things, when there is no more space in my current storage, and/or its not going to be helpful when I move here in the near future. 

So if you’ve watched the videos are listened to the podcasts, but you love collections, having a full closet, and keeping around a number of mementos, then do so just understand that it’s best when everything has a place.