Bare Necessities

There's a movement towards minimalism that's grown quite popular. 

You see it in interior decorating a lot nowadays. Take a look at posts like this or fairly popular blogs like this. 

I think people are tired of being so cluttered - inwardly and, therefore, outwardly - so they do things like paint their walls white, purchase white bedding, and buy neutral-coloured sweaters from H&M.

Not that I painted all of my walls white (I did do a cool grey in my second-year bedroom), but minimalism is something I actively seek in my day-to-day. I now have my wardrobe down to, like, five colours, four of which are also colours of cats ("All cats are neutrals," my sister once told me). I'm saving up for a simple white bedspread, like half of the females on the internet.

It's also important, I think, to strive for minimalism with the less-superficial things. Do you ever find that you've split your energy between too many interests and hobbies? I definitely do. 

In an effort to start moving towards this new and improved lifestyle, I started purging. Now, over the past few years, I've purged a lot.

This includes, but is not limited to, books, shoes, passable but out of style designer jeans - the list goes on. Sometimes I regret throwing things out (read: a notebook from an ex that was pretty much one long love letter*) but I mostly don't, and that makes it all worthwhile.

It's the same story with the detritus I've seen piled up in my iTunes. 

So, in early Autumn, I deleted MY ENTIRE LIBRARY. Granted, I kept certain albums I knew I'd never delete (Beyoncé and Bon Iver, both self-titled, were two I recall). 

And, actually, it felt so goddamn good. I was able to build my music library from the ground up, taking things from my computer library (since that was still intact). It's been surprisingly pleasant, being able to enjoy 95% of the songs that come up on shuffle. 

It reminds me of the first time I enjoyed an album through an entire listen.** Which is a great time, really, if you can recall.

Image source

*Never throw out love letters. I was told this about a year too late, after I over-dramatically gave my first ex back everything he had ever gifted me. I later found out that he threw them out that same day.

**Fall Out Boy's From Under the Cork Tree and The Killers' Hot Fuss, sitting next to my stereo on my bedroom floor. Age 14.

Keep It Short

I've been falling behind with my reading.

I had an impressive winter last year. It would take me less than a week to finish books I'd been dying to read but had consistently just added to my Goodreads to-read list (East of Eden, White Noise, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, for some examples). 

Combined with my 60+ hr/week job and the fact that I was neglecting regular exercise (yet again), this should be seen as a miraculous feat. If only I could duplicate it this year.

I'm only working 40 hrs/week now, but with the commute it's more like 55. Living in the suburbs is steadily gnawing at my soul. Instead of reading at night, I marathon, like, five episodes of Gilmore Girls. Friends, it's become that bad.

In place of my novel-reading habit, which has dropped quite disastrously (I'm only 130 pages into 100 Years of Solitude ... a month later), I've been reading essays and short fiction online. It's given me something to do in my off-time that's not too overwhelming. I'll always be a lover of the novel first, but this should do in its stead.

Tess Lynch is one of the writers I follow for this kind of content. She doesn't post as much as I'd like her to (not everyone is my dancing monkey, of course), but it's cool. That's because, when she does, it's essentially how I'd like my writing to be - sensitive, sincere, well-crafted, elegant. It goes on.

She writes about a bunch of different topics - motherhood, current events, Kathleen Hale. If you'd like, read this story about a cat/relationship (one of my favourite things I've read on the Internet, ever) or this one about her son.

It's been a weird week. Diving into reading helps with things like this, at least.

Image source