Are minimalists lazy? Critics of the lifestyle sure think so!
This belief can be attributed to the fact that minimalists celebrate simple living over hustle culture.
The question is, are the critics right? Is the minimalist lifestyle just an excuse to be lazy?
In this post I will be diving into what it means to be a minimalist as well as the connection between minimalism, laziness and hustle culture.
Let’s start with some definitions.
what is hustle culture?
Hustle culture encourages people to work without rest. Workaholics are put on a pedestal and people who have a healthy work life balance are considered lazy or lacking grit.
Most workaholics are driven by their desire to make money. They value money over time, willingly giving up over 40 hours a week in pursuit of economic gain. They tend to measure success through their career-related accomplishments.
What is simple living?
Simple living is the practice of noticing and enjoying the little things in life. It’s about valuing relationships and simple moments of joy. There’s a desire to slow things down and notice the beauty in the mundane.
what is the minimalist lifestyle?
The minimalist lifestyle is a choice to live with less. Minimalists choose to keep only what is essential and get rid of everything else. By doing so, minimalists live clutter free. By having a clutter free home, they also have a clutter free mind. This allows minimalists to shift their energy to what’s truly important; relationships and experiences.
The goal of minimalism is to stop mindlessly consuming, relying on technology and owning tons of stuff. As a result, there isn’t emphasis on making money. I mean, what for? Making money comes at the expense of time, a core value of simple living.
Minimalists value simple living, although minimalism and simple living aren’t synonymous.
The Minimalist Lifestyle vs Simple Living
Simple living is not entirely the same as minimalism, although the goals are similar.
Simple living is a state of mind. It’s a conscious choice to be more present, appreciate simple moments and slow things down that most people try to speed up (like doing chores for instance).
If you live simply, you may choose to wash your clothes by hand instead of throwing a load into a washing machine. The simple act of washing your clothes by hand gives you the opportunity to appreciate the clothing that you have.
Minimalism on the other hand is less about simplifying your life through your actions, and more about simplifying your life through the things that you own (or don’t own for that matter). For instance, most minimalists wash their clothes by hand but not necessarily because they are trying to slow the process down. It’s because they simply don’t own a washing machine.
How Do Minimalists View Money?
With this being said, minimalists and those who live simply have very similar values, if not the same values.
Both value their time over money. They don’t splurge on material things. They don’t find value in owning the newest phone, the biggest house or the most technologically advanced car. Both minimalists and those who live simply have very frugal lifestyles, and as a result, need a lot less money to support themselves.
What does this mean for minimalists? It means that they don’t need as much money to be happy. As a result, they don’t need to work as much. This is why critics of the lifestyle assume that minimalists are lazy.
Are Minimalists Lazy?
It’s true, minimalists tend to work a lot less than non-minimalists. But it’s not out of laziness. It’s because they simply don’t need as much money to be happy. I mean, isn’t that why we work? To make money?
It’s easy to forget why we work. Most people work without even questioning it. We know we need to work to be functional members of society. For a lot of us, our jobs are an integral part of our identity as well. Think about it. When you meet someone for the first time, how often do they ask you what you do for work? I’d guess, 100% of the time.
Some people work because they love their job. But unfortunately, that’s not the case for most of us. For many of us, we work 40 hours a week because we feel like we need to. We also need a certain amount of money to support our lifestyle.
Now imagine for a moment, that you stopped spending as much. You’d be able to work less, right? That’s what a lot of minimalists have figured out.
Many minimalists work only as much as they need to! They don’t work 40 hours a week just because it’s the status quo.
Minimalists have found simple ways to cut their expenses so that they can live off very little! Curious about how I’ve been able to do it? I wrote an article about living on $2000 a month as a minimalist. Read it here!
In Conclusion
Is the minimalist lifestyle just an excuse for people to not work and be lazy? Critics of the lifestyle sure think so! In reality, minimalists simply need less money to support their lifestyles, meaning, they can work less!
How many hours a week do you work to support your lifestyle? Let me know in the comments below!
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