I don’t mock people here. That’s not what this is even though my catchy title made ya look. But I do look around and listen and observe and sometimes words do fall out. Hopefully, by the time they get to my 91 little things, they have gone through some sort of filter, albeit my own.

What is minimalism? Well, it is a growing trend in this generation to free oneself of consumerism and reduce clutter and possessions in order to find happiness and freedom.

On some very minute level I get it. I find I tend to eye roll at either end of the STUFF-spectrum. I mean, we have a TV show in our country that depicts lives of folks so traumatized in life that they live in filth and things so deep they can’t find each other or their cat(s). When I was a little girl, there was a friend of my grandparents that scared the bejeebers out of me. He had a cane and once used it to pull me closer to him — by the neck! He also lived in a house that had things packed to the ceiling and we traversed to other rooms of stuff through pathways. My own parents collected and held onto things that made me feel crazy. I vowed to never collect anything (figurines, themed items, etc.) and to be able to get rid of something if it didn’t have a strong sentimental value or I haven’t used it in a few years.

Certain members of my village tend to lean toward minimalist thinking. Bless their hearts. I do eyeroll a bit when things that could be sold get burned instead. But, I will say, they are tidier than I. When the whole world Kondo-ed the crap out of everything and starting talking about relating things to joy, I began a couple-year-eyeroll. I haven’t read the book so I probably shouldn’t speak about it, but I’ve heard enough (I promise) that I tend to look at it like I do dieting. I’ll explain.

Neither is sustainable, friends. It cannot be. We cannot eat like or live like a minimalist forever. I tend to find what is brilliant and sustainable about life choices, and then let whatever works well and makes real sense adapt into my world– because I’m not who I was three months ago, three years ago, and sure as heck not three decades ago.

Whoops. We just got to the heart of it at the mention of decades. Maybe it takes having lived several to be able to find the ability to sit where you are. And having been a minimalist, NOT by choice, for many years growing up and also in our younger years, we’ve learned to take great pride in making wise choices and saving pennies.

Maybe I’ve seen enough, lived enough places and decades of life to say there isn’t a one-size-fits-all method to this madness. I certainly didn’t see myself living in a several thousand square foot home with several buildings surrounding, hosting scads of visitors, and operating home businesses out of said-places. These operations take lots of things. And being a business owner’s wife takes having lots of shirts (she says, SO not defensively, rather matter-of-factly, and thankfully). And I like my grandma’s dishes, dang it! And my sweet man’s grandma’s dishes, too! But I did recently throw out a bunch of crap that I’m just never gonna use again that someone else might be surprised I’d get rid of, and I have plans to do that some more!

BALANCE!! It’s all about balance. Our stuff, our priorities, our thoughts and mindsets (if only we could minimize those, hey?).

Eat smart — most of the time. And then eat the chocolate and ice cream you crave.

Keep all the fun things you like and don’t feel guilty because it wouldn’t fit into a tiny house. And then clean out a closet and throw a bunch of garbage you don’t really use away.

Let yourself feel the hurt from past crap for a half a day or so and then cry and scream it out. And then, find the Healer and let Him in, and move on.

But let’s not feel badly when a one-size-fits-all-idea fits much like that prom dress you once wore that now makes you feel like a popped can of biscuits instead of a beauty queen.

We’re just not all the same. Revel in that.