#minimalism
Check out this lesson at danishwithemi.com
Imagine being locked inside an empty room. Pretty boring, right? Not much to do. Now, imagine that the only thing in there with you is a textbook for language learning. A Danish textbook, perhaps. Now you have something to do! Something that can entertain you (at least until you get too bored and goes back to staring at those empty walls). With language learning as your only means of entertainment, you’d be a master in Danish in no time.
But that’s pretty unrealistic? you might think - and it is! This is an exaggerated example, but I think you get the idea, which is that:
By creating an environment with minimum distractions, you can focus on what’s important to you. Whether it being finishing art projects, working out, knitting, photographing, building a 1:1 scale lego-version of the death star, or, as this article is focusing on, learning a language.
If you are sitting in your room reading this I encourage you to take a look around. How many unfinished books, games or projects of any sort do you have lying around? Probably a lot. Unless you, unlike me, are super disciplined and finish anything you start - good job! Anyways, how many times have you been in the middle of doing something productive and suddenly your roommate sends you a funny video and now you find yourself on an one-hour YouTube binge. Or perhaps you thought to yourself “oh yeah, I should probably finish this soon… but look at this awesome new game I’d rather want to play!”. I know for a fact that this had happened to me a dozen of times. And to be honest, it can be stressful sometimes. So, how do we solve this issue?
With minimalism, of course.
But what is minimalism? you ask me.
Minimalism can be different for many people. For some, it’s about owning only bare essentials like Fumio Sasaki, the author of the book Goodbye Things. For others, it’s about living in a space with only things that makes you happy, or, as Marie Kondo would say it, things that “sparks joy!” And that could be less than a hundred things or more than a thousand things. Heck, for some people it’s only about being emotionally detached from material possessions.
Personally, I’ve been trying to minimize my possessions by selling and donating things that doesn’t make me happy and is just serving as clutter. I’ve also started being more mindful of what I’m buying. Asking myself questions like: do I really need it, what will I be using it for and do I own something similar that I need to take care of or put to use first? With this mindset, I’ve minimized the clutter that would otherwise stop me from focusing on what is important to me. It even helped me be more environmentally friendly! I have not perfected my surroundings, nor will I probably ever get there, but I am doing my best and it is helping me focus.
With this article, I encourage you to be more aware of what you are surrounding yourself with. Now, I’m not telling you to get rid of your things, but simply try and be more aware, which in turn will hopefully help you focus on your goals and stay on track with learning those tricky foreign words and grammar rules! Perhaps you too can adopt the word minimalism and make it your own.
If you are sold on the idea of implementing minimalism to your life, here’s a few tips on how to get started:
- Clean your room and put everything back to their designated spots.
- If some of your things have no designated spot, give them one.
- If you can’t give some of your things a designated spot, read the two next points on this list.
- Sell or donate things you haven’t touched in a long time.
- Sell or donate things you never used or never will use again.
Good luck and happy studying!
If you want to learn more about minimalism, here’s some material that had helped me:
(FYI these are not sponsored. Just my own humble opinion)
https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/ - Blogpost about “what is minimalism” by the Minimalists. This blog has a lot of helpful and inspiring blog posts.
https://www.reddit.com/r/minimalism/ - Reddit forum for minimalists and those interested in the topic. Contain lots of inspiration!
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRealLeaf/videos - Youtube channel by Lefie who makes fun, sarcastic and important videos on minimalism and mindful living.
Goodbye Things by Fumio Sasaki (book/audiobook)
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (book/audiobook)
Sometimes I want to get a brush pen and a Leuchtturm1917 and let my hand do its work. However, my values stop me from supporting the community in the way I initially wanted to, which is analogue for the most part. So I had to come up with a way to get my shit together, a la bullet journal style that was convenient, environmentally friendly and of course, work for me.
Thus my armour was born.
1. Laptop and stylus. My laptop is without a doubt the most useful tool I possess. Apart from the standard use of typing reports and using my friend Google to the max, I am able to download my college books, handouts and syllabus. But interestingly, it also doubles as an actual paper notebook because it is stylus enabled, so I can highlight and take notes on pdf’s, write and draw. I’ve got the best of both worlds. Can you hear my cry of joy in the background?!
2. Phone. Even though my laptop is basically my lifesaver, sometimes I just don’t wanna carry it around. I don’t plan on walking around with a backpack 24/7 and I don’t own a purse or a bag or whatever people use. That’s why pockets exist and I don’t carry much anyways. This is where my phone comes to play. It’s compact, fits in my pocket and above all, it syncs with all the apps I use to stay organized. All my files, available anywhere I go. Plus it also has a stylus. More cries of joy in the background!
3. Notebook and a pen. Last but definitely not least, I do own a notebook. With a refillable fountain pen. I know, I know. What was all that speech just above about not using analogue methods?! Let me explain. If you’re an artist, I think you might have the same problem as me. I owned a horrendous amount of sketchbooks and none of them was finished. So I made a little DIY Bullet Journal out of the empty pages. I only use the notebook for when I am not allowed to use my laptop, which is after 6pm, so I can give my eyes a break from the lights and prepare myself to sleep. There, I write and doodle to my heart’s content.
So my laptop, my stylus, my phone, my notebook and my fountain pen are all the tools I need to go to class and take notes. At the same time, they offer me a minimalist armour that allows me to be more productive in class and it helps me reduce the amount of trash I produce. Although both methods, analogue and digital, have their pros and cons when it comes to the environment, the tools needed for digital processes are fewer and it helps me produce less trash. At the end of the day, it all comes down if the method you’re using works for you and if you’re happy and satisfied with it.
Stripes.
minimalist academia
