Stoicism and Minimalism are Traps!

You will own nothing and be happy

Wait, cull the fires and throw away the pitchforks. No, you did not just waste 10 years of your adult life reading self-improvement books about minimalism and stoicism to become the next Top G.

Yes, stoicism is a philosophy that can improve your resilience to outside influence and can help you get your shit together. If you approach it with the right mindset and invest some time into it, to understand the philosophy’s intricacies. Ryan Holiday probably is the best modern go-to source to get you started.

And yes, minimalism can be helpful to declutter your life filled with useless stuff, Maria Kondo style. Yes, it can help with focus and yes it probably will cure habitual impulse-buying-sprees on Amazon. Also yes, minimalist websites load faster and are easier to read.

But…

Minimalism examined

• Minimalism is lazy, ugly, devoid of individuality and personality
• When you own (almost) nothing, you just own nothing (nothing special happens)
• Minimalism will dull your creative mind

Let me elaborate.

Yes, having a tidy workspace can help relax your mind and be more productive. But having an almost empty workspace can make you feel depressed and it may also lack inspirational qualities. Having a lot of stuff can be a drag, yes. But it also means you have a lot of options to help yourself.

Take tools for an example. Tools are a great way (if used correctly) to not only improve your bro-score and manliness by fixing things that are broken, but they can also help you save money. But how many tools are enough? You need what you need. A true minimalist probably won’t have any tools, so he’s always dependent.

Options and choices are the benefits of not being a minimalist in many regards. Don’t be a hoarder or a messy, of course. But probably having “enough” stuff is better than forcefully minimizing everything you have to close to zero.

Also, ownership over things can provide security. Financial and mental security. A treasured keepsake by your family can be calming in times of hardship and yes, owning stuff you can sell off in case of a financial emergency does provide ease-of-mind at night.

If you take the whole idea of minimalism to the extreme, you might as well own “nothing”. And be happy about it too.

And what about design, style, and architecture? Well, minimalism in architecture can be cost-effective and it looks “modern”. It’s also butt-ugly. Just think about European cities around 1900.

Oh, the architecture. What about the Renaissance? Lovely! Heck, even 4.500-year-old temples in India are magnificent beacons of artistry, engineering, and creativity.

The modern shit? Concrete blocks with a two-tone paint job or some steel-and-glass-box-shaped towers? No, thank you. Of course, this is subjective.

(It’s not, I just try to keep all the architecture students off my lawn.)

Graphics design? Minimalism is a lazy way to make something you have no creative idea for look good and still sell it to the client.

“Look how your font can breathe with so much negative space!”

Trust me, I know.

I am a graphics designer.

Yes, negative (or empty, or white-) space is part of the conscious design elements. Yes, you can do intentional, minimalist design which is clever (and takes time and experience to get right). Sure. But with minimalism it’s the easiest method to get away with pure laziness. Cobble together Helvetica Semibold and Helvetica Light, throw in three shades of grey and call it a day. Success.

Minimalist living spaces can feel freeing and open, but they can also feel impersonal, sterile, and even downright dystopian. Some people believe that there is a spirit in even inanimate things and that you imprint things, by using them, with that spirit, memories etc. That’s why when moving into a new flat it feels so “empty” and why older houses feel “lived in” even if they get a new owner.

Stoicism boiled down

If you really dumb it down to a central idea, stoicism is a great philosophy for rulers in times of hardship, but for the average Joe it’s the perfect recipe to become a master at suffering in silence.

Take it like a man and shut up about it.

Every dictator’s dream citizen.

Well, that really is it with stoicism. While minimalism to the extreme will teach you to own nothing and be happy, stoicism — at it’s unreflected core — will teach you to never complain about it too.

Great.

Alternatives?

Well, there are no alternatives needed. Like many philosophies or movements, stoicism and minimalism can be beneficial. But like everything, it needs balance and measure. Moderation. They are powerful tools not meant to be spread evenly across the masses without a second thought.

If you keep yourself and your environment tidy, it’s easy to find the things you need, you won’t drown in clutter and you always have a good idea about how much stuff you own. Once you lose sight of that, it’s straight to impulse-buy-city. So, there is no need to go full-on minimalism, just “Clean up your room.”, as JBP would say.

And about Stoicism, the key takeaway should be that you don’t fret too much about external influences you cannot change. But don’t suffer silently. Seek company and community during tough times, maybe even professional help. You don’t need the weight of the whole world on your shoulders, you are no roman emperor.

Yes, be strong and resilient, especially if you got a family to provide for, be the rolemodel you wanted when you were small, be the best version of yourself. But if shit hits the fan, its fine to call it out and stand up for your beliefs.

Anyways, that’s my 2 cents after I indulged in both philosophies maybe quite a bit too much over the past couple of years. I threw out everything that meant something to me in the chase to feel free. I ended up feeling empty. Also I took on too many challenges, leaving me exhausted as I “stoicized” my way through them, “the-obstacle-is-the-way”-style.

Strength and support are community-things and go both ways. Or as JBP would probably say: “Find a significant responsibility and bear it.”

A very valuable lesson I learned.

Please note, for the purpose of this article, I took a rather extreme point of view on both philosophies.

Thanks for reading my piece. I hope it has something in it for you. Please take care of your loved ones and also your own mental health, it’s hard to support others if you are broken yourself. I wish you the best of days and that you can achieve everything you strive for (except world dominance). :)