I stumbled upon minimalism by watching a video by Nate O’Brien on YouTube. He was showing his new minimalist flat and explained this new lifestyle he adopted.
I already knew something about minimalism, but mainly related to art and aesthetics.
As a person who loses things easily, minimalism was what I needed. Owning less, living in a clean and organized space, focusing on who and what I love, this is my dream.
I’m 20 years old and still live with my parents, so what to do when you can’t apply minimalism to its fullest just yet?
I began with my digital presence.
As a music producer, I relied on social media to promote my music, but I quickly became addicted to metrics such as views and likes.
One day I convinced myself to delete my Instagram account after 6 years. I’ve also deleted TikTok, Threads and Facebook. I understood that there was no way to deal with the addiction but to erase everything.
These platforms weren’t helping me in any way, my music wasn’t noticed, and I wasted more time on content I didn’t really care about.
Then I reconsidered newsletters. I already knew they existed but didn’t recognize their value and potential. Now, they have completely replaced my Instagram feed.
The content I truly care about is delivered directly to my inbox, just like physical mail.
No sponsored and unrelated content, no fancy algorithm, no metrics to compare to, no endless scrolling. Publications post either weekly, monthly or bi-monthly, which makes me enjoy them even more.
I still use YouTube because it brings me a lot of valuable content such as in-depth tutorials, documentaries and podcasts. You can choose what to watch and, if you pause watching history, you don’t get distracted by the myriads of thumbnails in the home page. Aside from that, I also have my channel where I upload my music.
I have reframed my idea of success as an artist: less algorithms to please, more music to create and enjoy.