Life. Full of the good and, sometimes, the not-so-good. But you just do it, right? You feel a little out-of body, you’re going through the motions thinking, is this really happening? At the end of it all, you’ve learned something; it was life-changing but so . . . simple. Would you share it? Would you go big? Write a book and go on a countrywide tour? Start a blog? Host a podcast? Make TWO documentaries? Start a movement?
That’s what childhood friends, Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, did together.
Their first documentary titled, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things, was the #1 Indie doc of 2016. They introduced the concept of minimalism to the masses, teaching us another way of thinking about consumerism and living with less.
I watched it again, last month, and here is an excerpt from my journal the next morning:
I watched Minimalism, the documentary, again last night. This morning the beautiful theme song is playing in my head and a renewed energy and motivation for the concept of minimalism is in my heart. Overwhelmingly, the documentary felt like a remodeling of life itself, our values, and the way we have been taught to live.
Didi
As you can see, I was quite moved by the first documentary. Therefore, it’s very difficult for me to review this new, second documentary without comparing it to the original.
But, both movies are very similar; they both feature Josh and Ryan’s youth growing up in poverty and their quest to make a better life for themselves.
Through their shared experiences of employment with a big corporation and working long hours, they discovered that high paying jobs, money, and buying lots of ‘things’ doesn’t always make you happy. Letting it all go was the beginning of their journey to self discovery.
Together, they dismantled the myth of ‘the American dream’ and reimagined a new way of living. They posed this question: “Who do I want to become and how will I define my own success?”
My sense is that because they found their meaning and purpose through the mechanism of minimalism, we can and must conclude that the concept of minimalism is a much more profound idea than just getting rid of stuff.
Why, then, did this movie feel like it was all about consumerism?
How I experienced the documentary
The movie takes you on a roller coaster ride between slow-paced emotional distress and fast-paced commentary in a grating, almost unfair manner.
One minute you’re down a path of despair and sorrow as they reminisce about their childhoods, and then, in a split second, you’re back to the real world of fast-paced statistics, flipping from commentator to commentator. It’s almost as jarring as the pre-minimalist world they rejected.
While their original documentary also featured experts on consumerism, it included other people from the minimalist movement, showing how each of them applied the idea of minimalism in different ways.
This documentary takes us on Josh & Ryan’s journey from their traumatic childhood to adulthood and follows how they transformed from a consumerist lifestyle to a minimalist lifestyle.
It also features experts and consumers alike, with experts discussing issues like the American dream, our ‘all-work & no play’ work ethic, debt, depression, and loneliness, with the main focus on advertising and consumerism.
Spoiler Alert – Movie Scene
“The American dream is the sense of freedom,” says Dave Ramsay, the well-known radio host who spends his life teaching people how to empower themselves by saving money instead of spending it.
“You have to learn to contract your “needs” so that you can create a buffer around your life and create this independence to where you’ve got enough savings that you can say, ‘take this job and shove it’ if you need to,” he said.
Suddenly, the scene jumps back into raw emotion and trauma; Josh’s mother dies from cancer and, as her only child, he has to deal with her belongings.
As he slowly walks through her apartment, he describes how she had too much stuff for one person, but acknowledges that it’s the accumulation of her sixty five years on this planet.
Abruptly, Josh changed from a quiet and introspective storyteller to a fast-paced broadcaster behind the scenes of an on-screen graph, telling us that the average American household has more than 300,000 items in it!
Hurry! Go Declutter Your Stuff!
At this point, I felt like jumping up and running to purge all the things in my home, to avoid qualifying for that statistic.
I felt sick to my stomach as he quickly rambled on obsessively, naming the stuff: unused sporting goods, exercise equipment, camping gear, holiday decorations, musical instruments, spare parts, outdated electronics, random cords, and miscellaneous cables, magazines and cassette tapes, compact discs, tchotchkes and knick-knacks and trinkets.
As Josh itemized the list of possible accumulations in a garage, I must confess that, even though I’ve already purged my home relentlessly, some of those things on his list still remain.
They are the things that I can’t make a decision about: boxes of electronic cords that I might need someday, when I come across whatever it was that should have been attached at the other end, plus old CDs, and DVDs.
Throughout the movie, in between desperate sorrow and brazen facts, regular, random people are featured, talking about their clutter.
They describe some of their excesses: photography and bicycle equipment , shoes, purses, beauty products, accumulations of gifts, cards, and objects.
The sheer discussion of all the stuff made me feel guilty for owning any of it, like a spoiled child who didn’t know the rules.
Minimalist mission accomplished: twenty-eight minutes into the 53-minute documentary, I felt a compulsive desire to clean out my house and found myself daydreaming about all of the closets and rooms that I could tackle.
Minimalism, Less is Now, was released on January 1, 2021, and I watched it precisely at the first moment I had an opportunity: 10:00 a.m. on January first. Can you tell that I was looking forward to it?
You might have guessed by now, that I’m a fan. “The Minimalists” are the guys who influenced me on my ‘minimalist’ journey.
What Others Are Saying
Since I have a lot of previous knowledge and probably some bias, I decided to watch a few other movie reviews on YouTube, just to get a sense of how other people viewed this movie.
The consensus is that if you’ve seen the first documentary, you like it better and this version seemed a little rehashed and staged.
However, if you haven’t seen the first movie, or you don’t know much about “the minimalists,” then, you’ll be inspired by this movie, just as I was inspired by the original.
The Minimalist’s Message
To conclude the movie, read ahead for their closing message and ‘a call to action’:
“Find your passion. What good can you do in the world? Add value, more time, meaningful relationships, unencumbered by the trappings of the chaotic world around you,” says Ryan.
A Call to Action:
- Ask yourself: “How might my life be better with less?”
- Let go of some stuff.
Take the Less is Now Challenge:
Let go of one thing on day one, two things on day two, and so on.
Share your progress – #lessisnow
Get your free 30-Day Minimalism Challenge Worksheet here!
I have been doing the challenge and I created this form to help you out on your journey to minimalism.
I have to admit, I felt the movie was a little dramatic and overly played out, but well-meaning and no less inspiring. Hey, everyone’s a movie critic!
That being said, I’m definitely a proponent for the minimalist movement and I fully support, appreciate, and admire their efforts to spread this message.
CONCLUSION
I’ll end where I started: life can bring some tough times like Josh & Ryan went through; childhood trauma, death of a loved one, divorce & loss of a job.
One thing is for sure: these life events are traumatic and difficult.
As a result, every now and then, we learn something profound. And, sometimes WE MUST CHANGE to come out okay on the other side; a metamorphosis, so to speak.
Like many of you, I’ve had my share of hard times too. Childhood trauma, untimely death of a loved one, and a special needs child are just a few.
But the thing that caused me to start my blog (this blog: ecofriendlyminimalist.com) was when I lost my home overnight because of a mudslide.
Consequently, living in a furnished rental with only our clothes taught me a lesson that I could have only learned under those circumstances.
And, that’s why I wanted to share what I learned with the world: so that I could possibly help make everyone’s life a little easier.
My blog was founded on that lesson learned the hard way, with the blog post titled, The Five Active Causes of Clutter & The Clutter Cycle, but,
it is dedicated to the idea that through minimalism, you can heal your life, gain a sense of control, and live the life of your dreams.
didi
As for Josh and Ryan, they are two guys with a lesson, a simple message, and the courage to share it.
I think you’ll agree that we ALL have life experiences that shape who we are. Those are the lessons. But, will you share yours? Will you change the world?