Every Monday I post Real Life Minimalists, a profile of one of my readers in their own words. If you’d like to participate, click here for details.
Today, I’d like to introduce you to Kate Carpenter, whose minimalist journey led her to a career as a writer. Be sure to visit her website to learn more about her books!
Kate writes:
Kate
My first year of college, I read a book called Living Poor with Style by Ernest Callenbach and it changed my life. For 40 years (I’m 58 now), I’ve been a “minimalist” but didn’t know what to call myself! You see, people of my generation consider ourselves to be followers of the Voluntary Simplicity movement – but we never had a catchy name (simpletons?). I went on to follow Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, Duane Elgin, Elaine St. James, Linda Breen Pierce, Wanda Urbanska, and the other Voluntary Simplicity pioneers.
I finished college, moved to the Washington DC area, and worked my way up the corporate ladder of various accounting departments. I bought a house and a new car, but remained a minimalist – or so I thought. My possessions were few and my house was uncluttered.
But something wasn’t right.
I kept pondering and puzzling and reading and studying. In my own way, I was praying for answers. One night, while walking my dog in the quiet country dark, I started to hear a little verse in my head. “Once upon a time…Not so very long ago…Lived an ordinary woman … Out to change the status quo.” It took 4 years for all 164 verses to get put onto paper, but Lilabean: a Storybook about Simplicity for Grown-Up Girls was finally born. Its message was pretty clear. But it didn’t change my life overnight.
I was stubborn, I guess. And I had more living to do – more Life Lessons to learn.
Another 4 years produced Bertabean: a Storybook about Self-Esteem for Grown-Up Girls, and things finally started to click. My life DID change.
What I finally realized is that there is a lot more than “stuff” cluttering up our lives. Much of our clutter is mental and emotional, and that can be even more debilitating than all the physical baggage we drag around.
So I worked hard at clearing my MIND of all the socialization (brainwashing?) that had cluttered my head and obstructed my view of who I am and what I was really put here to do. I quit my paying job – “jumped into the abyss” as some say – and simply began truly living simply, regardless of how it looked to others or what they thought of my decisions. Then I wrote my latest book– ENUFF: Eliminate the Needless, the Useless, the Foolish, and the Frivolous.
And what I’ve learned from all this is that minimalism is easy when your mind is clear and your goals are crystallized and your focus is sharp. Anything that isn’t contributing to your goals is distracting you from them …ergo, it’s clutter! I finally realized – despite all the DIScouragement I got from society – that I’m not an accountant. I’m a writer. And I know that because the world’s accounting will get done without me – but the writing I have to do will not. This is what I love to do! Deep inside I must have known that when I wrote in Lilabean:
In her quest to find contentment,
She had finally made a start –
Just by listening to the feelings
That lay hidden in her heart.“If you seek your own discovery,
You don’t have to look too far …
It’s the things that make you happy
That determine who you are.”“Joy will lead you to the places
You were always meant to go …
And transform you into someone
You yourself would like to know.”Find your joy. Get rid of everything that isn’t part of it. That’s minimalism!”
{If you’d like to learn more about minimalist living, please consider reading my book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide, or subscribing to my RSS feed.}
Kate, Excellent story, thanks for sharing!
“regardless of how it looked to others or what they thought of my decisions” – something I often find myself worrying about. Your Lilabean poem is darling and quite inspiring! I’ve ordered the kindle version of it – I think a poem about minimalism is exactly what I need to propel me through Spring Cleaning. :) Thanks for sharing your story.
“Find your joy. Get rid of everything that isn’t part of it.” These are words to live by! On my minimal journey, I’ve found that by getting rid of whatI don’t love makes my life more peaceful!
Love your story, especially that you are doing what you love and living your dream!!
Kate,
I enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for sharing.
I too have loved writing poetry. I quit years ago. This has inspired me
to get back at it!
I quit because many years ago I had a typewriter that had a memory. I stored
all of my poems in the memory of the typewriter. The typewriter was stolen.
I didn’t have a copy of any of my poems. It was heartbreaking.
Betty, I had a similar heartbreak – the computer I used through high school & college, with all the writing I did then, was lost sometime after college when I was moving around a lot. I still get sad thinking about it. (Also, my mom recently had a computer problem that wiped out a ton of family pics). Now I do a cloud backup as well as a physical hard drive backup.
Betty & Ashley – I hope you will read this. (I’m sorry to be so late in commenting!) The famous singer Sheryl Crow (Crowe?) once had her personal notebook stolen from her car – it had all her ideas for new songs in it! And my computer crashed after about 10 of 12 chapters of Lilabean were written. A friend was able to resurrect it, but I know exactly how you feel! Just know that the poetry and all the words you wrote are still inside you. You can coax them out again – and this time they may be said even better! Thanks for your thoughts … I really appreciate them. Kate
Yes! Glad to hear someone else remembers those authors. I think that Joe Dominguez’ and Vicki Robin’s Your Money or Your Life actually changed my life.
My favorite real life post so far. Thanks so much for sharing, Kate’s writing is inspiring.
A minimalist friend recommended this blog site to inspire me live as one. This is the first entry I read and I really love it. Thanks for sharing!
love it! It was simplifying that let me start writing. I have been blogging and finished a book last month. None of that could have happened with out cutting out the stuff that was taking my time. There is so much that people can and want to do that gets cut out with living up to societal expectations. Thanks so much for sharing!
This is one of my favorite posts so far. I wholeheartedly agree that minimalism is also a state of mind, not just a physical presence. Thank you for putting all of this into words.
There may not be a direct correlation, but I have a friend who has wonderful taste and her home is really lovely, a showcase really. However, You can go to the cupboard for something and have the excess fall on your head. Pretty and organized on the outside, my friend is also unorganized and a mess on the inside just like the hidden spaces within her home, the ones not everyone sees. Thanks for reminding us how holistic minimalism truly is.
what a lovely post today, thankyou!
Madeleine
Thank you so much for expressing your connection to the voluntary simplicity movement and the authors who inspired you. I love your concluding definition of minimalism.
I’m an adult living with my mother. We are not minimalists but don’t have too many things and are organized. Ten days ago my brother moved in with us and brought all of his clutter with him. He put two big white cacabinets in my mom’s room and three smaller ones in the living room. Then he has two bicycles and two oars by the dining room table. And in the foyer he put some cans of auto or bicycle repair things. Also his room is extremely full of stuff. I’m really frustrated with all of this clutter. Thank you for reading this, I’m venting!
Great post Kate. I always turn to Miss Minimalist to get some peace of mind.
Betty & Ashley,
Part of the joy of minimalism is not experiencing heartbreak when things are gone (even when those things are ideas). Even if you don’t remember the past clearly because things are gone, the past makes you who you are today. I lost everything in a fire, but I’m ok with it because I could let it go.
Peace
Ah, Ernest Callenbach and Living Cheaply with Style. I believe that was the very first book I picked up as well in my early 20s and then became addicted to simple living literature and the rest of the voluntary simplicity pioneers followed along.
Ah, Ernest Callenbach. Living Cheaply with Style is one of the first simple living books that I picked up as well in my early 20s. Affected me tremendously. After that, I found I couldn’t get enough of simple living literature and the rest of the voluntary simplicity cannon followed in quick succession.
You are so right…we can clutter up our minds just as well as we clutter up our physical space. I enjoyed your poem. I read it over and over again. It’s lovely. Keep creating!
Angie – Sorry to be so late in replying! I just wanted you to know that that was only 3 verses of 164 in the book (Lilabean: A Storybook about Simplicity for Grown-Up Girls). You can read the whole thing on amazon or smashwords for just 99 cents. Thanks for the kind words! They mean an awful lot to a struggling writer. ;-) Kate
My favorite post so far, I can tell you are a professional writer! Thanks for sharing :)
I am Kate’s niece and proud to be so! My aunt is a great writer and super fabulous inspirational minimalist. She is only recently spreading her blog/social wings so everyone be sure to follow her on twitter.com/katienuff and check out her website at http://www.enuffstuff.info <3
I related to the story about the woman whose brother moved in with his junk. I got 5 huge boxes of my Mom’s papers down to a tote bag. We threw away about 70 boxes of her magazines and other papers. Now she’s in a nursing home and the Dr. had an aide clear out her drawers and shelves because she had so much paper. Now I have her mail coming here so I can toss her junk mail as soon as it comes and just bring her things she wants to read. I don’t get magazines. I take them out of the library.
I will probably never be an extreme minimalist. I have a lot of hobby materials even after purging a great deal. However, when I buy something new, I always get rid of something else.I have a stack of china to give away and more books to pass on.
We fill a big bag every week for Goodwill. We have been doing this for over a year. We recycle a big bag of paper and plastic every week, too. My closet is less than half full and my drawers are 1/2 empty. We have an empty dresser in the guest room and a nearly empty bookcase. I plan to give some furniture to my younger son when he gets his own place.
How cool is it to Google your sister’name and get a web page??? You have inspired me my entire life, and continue to do so! I’m thrilled that your visions and words of wisdom are finally reaching the masses! Keep writing..You are a gift!