I’ve been blogging about simple living and minimalism for a few years now. It’s something I’m passionate about. My blog has become a personal journey and an exercise in writing. That’s all good stuff. But there’s a dichotomy involved in blogging about minimalism that no one likes to talk about.
Minimalists like to promote simple living. We recommend downsizing our stuff. We suggest staying less busy. But there’s something minimalists are hiding. In order to blog about the topic, we have to break our own rules.
Blogging About Minimalism Is A Dichotomy
On one side of the fence, I’m truly trying to live a life with less stuff. And I honestly work to keep a simpler schedule. On the other side of the fence, blogging about minimalism can keep one so busy that it’s no longer a simple lifestyle. We need more: more equipment, more connections, more time.
I try to keep Hip Diggs simple. I limit my use of social media. Even so, I spend a lot of time and energy blogging. I write blog posts and ebooks. I network and write guest posts. Sometimes, I do my own photography or video to support the blog and social media. I share posts to several social networks every day. Hip Diggs keeps me pretty busy.
Now, add things like online courses, video programs, full-length books, book tours, more social media accounts, live speaking events, contests, movies, magazines, conferences, and more. Doesn’t sound very minimal does it? But this is exactly what many minimalist bloggers do.
The goal for most bloggers is to gain more followers so that we can begin to generate an income from our blogs. This takes a lot of time, effort, and busy work. See the dichotomy?
Minimalist bloggers want more. We want more exposure. We want bigger audiences. And we want to offer more content. Blogging can steal our time and keep us from doing the things we blog about. How can I have more time to be with the ones I love if I’m busy blogging? How can I spend more time enjoying nature when I’m tied to a computer?
The Dichotomy Is Real
Many blogs about simple living and minimalism disguise this dichotomy. We use simple themes with plenty of white space. We use beautiful pictures that create a sense of peace and tranquility. Then we make memes with quotes from others who have lived simply before us. We even show you our own homes. Don’t be fooled. They don’t always look like they do in the pictures. We live in them.
What we don’t show you is how many hours we spend creating content. You never see how many different social media accounts we update several times a day. We don’t show you those times when we’re stuck on our computers when our kids need more attention. We don’t show you when we forego exercise for a week in order to write our next book or online course. But the dichotomy is real.
I might only be speaking for myself, but from my experience, blogging about minimalism isn’t really minimalist. It’s a time-consuming, number-building, task-evolving process. And here’s the rub: I do much less than many of those at the more popular minimalist blogs.
This isn’t to say that other minimalist bloggers are not living the lifestyle. I’m sure they’re doing their best, just like I am. But we’re all living a dichotomy. Perhaps, those of us who blog about minimalism need spend a little more time practicing what we preach.
