The Struggles Of Simple Living.

For once, I doubt if I have ever inconvenienced anyone with my minimalist lifestyle, and it's something I don't intend doing since there is no way that practicing minimalism wholeheartedly poses a threat to the people around me or even my environment. I might be wrong because I am not a perfectionist, but one thing I do often is to always consider how my actions will affect people and my immediate environment.

While always trying to ensure that my practices don't affect anyone, I have learned over the years that pleasing people, no matter how you try, is impossible. My experience now makes it feel like it's a natural thing for humans to always find each other's fault, and it's usually worse when you do things differently wherever you find yourself.

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I haven't met many people who practice minimalism in my environment or in Ikorodu as a city. The majority of the people here are maximalists, so when they realize that your lifestyle is different from theirs, they criticize a lot. I wouldn't have an issue if it were a positive criticism; it's more about finding fault in my lifestyle. I have lived in the city for about 8 years now, and people criticizing my minimalist lifestyle have become music to my ears. Although it's an unpleasant one, it doesn't annoy me anymore.

I remember that year when I lived in an apartment where tenants shared spaces. The men (both bachelors and married ones) would criticize me for always cooking, claiming it's female duty. Even the women often said to me that only stingy men do that since they find it difficult to spend their money.

Their criticism always made me laugh because if they had known my background, they wouldn't have thought that way. I am someone who enjoys cooking my meals because it saves me money and I can trust whatever I am eating.

They criticize me for fixing things myself instead of paying a technician, but it just doesn't change who I am, and aside from being a minimalist, I enjoy doing these things myself. When I eventually left the apartment, I still faced the same criticism where I moved, and it became a challenge for me.

The funniest of it all is that the same people will request that I help them fix things when they don't have the money to pay a technician, and whenever that happens, I take my time to educate them about a minimalist lifestyle, even though it usually falls on deaf ears. Ignoring their criticism has helped me survive living in the city and it's all good.

Another thing I am struggling with as a minimalist is space, and it's one of the things I am looking forward to fixing very soon. Since I left the environment where I spent my teenage days, practicing gardening and growing animals has become quite challenging.

I used to grow vegetables back then since there were empty lands, but it's different where I am now. I used to have a few chickens that went missing one after the other, and even though I don't want to believe they were stolen, I know someone took them because my compound is fenced.

The little space I have can barely grow things, but I managed to plant a bitter leaf since I take it a lot. I have jute plants as well, but only in small quantities, and I wish there was enough space for all of that.

Sharing space with people can be very stressful since they don't put in the same effort as me to ensure that everything is clean. People litter the environment without considering how it will affect others.

Should I speak about the noise disturbance that I have to endure during the time when I need to meditate or reflect on things? Not making noise with my sound system or littering the compound doesn't mean I can't do the same; the fact that I can't cope with it means other people can't as well so doing it doesn't make any sense and the moment you start complaining, you become an enemy of progress as they use to say.

Getting a decent space is something I am working on, and it would be a blessing if I got what my heart actually desired.

At the moment, there is nothing much I can do since mere talking about it doesn't yield any results. There are people who became considerate, while there are also the obstinate ones, and since I am not in control of the space, I just have to endure.

I know the minimalist lifestyle is perfect for me and all these challenges can't halt my practice even though I find them disturbing sometimes. Challenges will always come but allowing them break me is never an option so I will keep prevailing with my minimalist approach to life.

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