Minimalism and my fixation on upgrades/efficiency
I’ve got one for you all — how many of you consider yourselves a minimalist, but wrap that inside a cocoon of efficiency, system, and therefore… an inevitable upgrade/swapping lifestyle?
I’ve always been a fairy streamlined person. When I was younger and broke, I was extremely frugal. As my career took off, I’ve always been mindful of my spend/accumulation and want to live well below my means. I try to keep my “stuff” to a minimum — essentials and hobbies. I’m really good about selling old things I no longer use, avoiding clutter, etc. However, I’ve noticed that my minimalistic lifestyle lends itself to create a bit of an upgrade culture. I will discover something that is an improvement on my current setup, and I make the upgrade and sell/downsize whatever it replaced. On paper, it’s a good system. But I find that I struggle more and more to appreciate what I have, the systems I’ve created (which work just fine), and ignore my urges to “optimize everything.”
Examples from 2024: 1. Had a small sling (3l) — worked perfectly for my daily needs, but really didn’t love how it carried when I rode my bike (often). I upgraded to a 6l sling from Chrome that carries much better on the bike. My old sling worked for 90% of my life, but I felt that I needed that extra 10%. 3l sling was sold.
Replaced most of the stock parts on my hardtail mountain bike. Were those stock parts perfectly fine and capable? Yes, but I felt like I wanted to curate my bike for specific trips/styles of riding, and the upgrades would get me there. Sold old parts to a local bike shop.
Had a leatherman skeletool — worked well, no complaints on function. But then found a model that had a better set of pliers that were much more usable for bike repairs, so they could double as a multitool in both my backpacking/hiking packs and my bike kit. Upgraded to that model and sold the Skeletool.
I guess my point is this — am I alone in feeling that maybe I’m fixating too much on maximum efficiency/upgrading to exactly what I need for every situation? I wish I was better at buying the best thing first try, but I feel like I’m in the “buy, use for awhile, see what works/doesn’t, seek more optimized version” phase.