A Minimalists Thoughts on Meaningful Relationships

A Minimalists Thoughts on Meaningful Relationships For many years, I associated with people based on convenience. The people closest to me were the people, well, closest to me. That is, I spent most of my time with people whose only commonality was proximity: schoolmates, coworkers, acquaintances, executives, networking buddies. Most of them weren’t shitty  relationships, but other than location, we had very little in common. We didn’t share similar valuesâ€"the bedrock of any worthwhile relationship. And in many cases, we didn’t even share any common interests. My life is appreciably better now: I live more deliberately. Accordingly, my relationships are more deliberate, too. Besides a handful of friendships spawned in yesteryear, I’ve met all my most meaningful relationships online. That’s right: I met most of my closest friends on the Internet. Although that feels weird to write, it’s the remarkable truth, and for good reasons. “Now that you’re a minimalist, people often ask, do you find that your friends and family take issue with your lifestyle?” Why would I spend significant time with people who dont share my values? My lifestyle is predicated on certain principles, and thus my relationships must align with my personal standards. Besides, its difficult to grow with someone if you’re both growing in opposite directions. Because of the Internet, however, you and I are no longer limited to proximity. We’re no longer forced to engage in pointless small talk in an effort to uncover a morsel of commonality. We no longer have to hang out with the person in the nearby cubicle outside of work hours. Instead, we can seek out people with similar values. Most of my newfound relationships have two things in common: we met because of the Internet, and we see the world through similar lenses. That doesn’t mean we always agree on everything, nor do we have the same tastes, opinions, beliefs, or personalitiesâ€"we’re human beings, not robotsâ€"but our common interests allow us to forge bonds based on something much more significant than proximity. Worthwhile interactions make life more meaningful; they make life worth living. Without them, we’d be forced to experience the world with people who aren’t understanding, supportive, or caring. Or worse, we’d be forced to encounter the world on our own, completely alone, which doesn’t sound like a pleasant proposition, even for an introvert like me. Read this essay and 150 others in our book, Essential. Free Download Values WorksheetTo help you identify your own values, The Minimalists and our friends from SPYR created this printable values worksheet. Enter your email below and well send it to your inbox. Email* This iframe contains the logic required to handle Ajax powered Gravity Forms. jQuery(document).ready(function($){gformInitSpinner( 11, 'https://www.theminimalists.com/wp-content/themes/the-mins/images/spinner.gif' );jQuery('#gform_ajax_frame_11').on('load',function(){var contents = jQuery(this).contents().find('*').html();var is_postback = contents.indexOf('GF_AJAX_POSTBACK') >= 0;if(!is_postback){return;}var form_content = jQuery(this).contents().find('#gform_wrapper_11');var is_confirmation = jQuery(this).contents().find('#gform_confirmation_wrapper_11').length > 0;var is_redirect = contents.indexOf('gformRedirect(){') >= 0;var is_form = form_content.length > 0 var mt = parseInt(jQuery('html').css('margin-top'), 10) + parseInt(jQuery('body').css('margin-top'), 10) + 100;if(is_form){jQuery('#gform_wrapper_11').html(form_content.html());if(form_content.hasClass('gform_validation_error')){jQuery('#gform_wrapper_11').addClass('gform_validation_error');} else {jQuery('#gform_wrapper_11').removeClass('gform_validation_error');}setTimeout( function( ) { /* delay the scroll by 50 milliseconds to fix a bug in chrome */ jQuery(document).scrollTop(jQuery('#gform_wrapper_11').offset().top - mt); }, 50 );if(window['gformInitDatepicker']) {gformInitDatepicker();}if(window['gformInitPriceFields']) {gformInitPriceFields();}var current_page = jQuery('#gform_source_page_number_11').val();gformInitSpinner( 11, 'https://www.theminimalists.com/wp-content/themes/the-mins/images/spinner.gif' );jQuery(document).trigger('gform_page_loaded', [11, current_page]);window['gf_submitting_11'] = false;}else if(!is_redirect){var confirmation_content = jQuery(this).contents().find('.GF_AJAX_POSTBACK').html();if(!confirmation_content){confirmation_content = contents;}setTimeout(function(){jQuery('#gform_wrapper_11').replaceWith(confirmation_content);jQuery(document).scrollTop(jQuery('#gf_11').offset().top - mt);jQuery(document).trigger('gform_confirmation_loaded', [11]);window['gf_submitting_11'] = false;}, 50);}else{jQuery('#gform_11').append(contents);i f(window['gformRedirect']) {gformRedirect();}}jQuery(document).trigger('gform_post_render', [11, current_page]);} );} ); jQuery(document).bind('gform_post_render', function(event, formId, currentPage){if(formId == 11) {if(typeof Placeholders != 'undefined'){ Placeholders.enable(); }} } );jQuery(document).bind('gform_post_conditional_logic', function(event, formId, fields, isInit){} ); jQuery(document).ready(function(){jQuery(document).trigger('gform_post_render', [11, 1]) } );