The minimalist lifestyle is something I never knew I was practicing until I found a community on Hive that helped me to understand and improve my approach towards managing and utilizing fewer resources the best way I can.
As someone who practices a minimalist lifestyle, I should be average at multiple skills than just be a specialist at one. This is more than just a response to this week's Minimalist Prompt because I am a good example of why knowing how to do multiple things even at average is better than just being a professional with one skill.
The minimalist lifestyle isn't about perfection, it is about living comfortably with less, saving, managing, and putting the interest of the environment at heart.
I have developed myself to average in different skills and this is one of the things that has helped me to maintain a minimalist lifestyle. Staying happy, healthy, and contented despite living with less are goals of every minimalist but our approach to achieving these are quite different. Part of my approach to maintaining the lifestyle of a minimalist is knowing how to do multiple things which has helped me in cutting down my expenses on many things.
I have gotten into the discussion quite a lot of times with different people about being an expert in one skill or average in multiple skills and some humans think it's best to be a pro at just one skill but my minimalist lifestyle wouldn't just make me settle for just one skill.
My journey in life has made me learn a few things not at a professional level but these things are quite useful for me today. Being able to do these things has helped me to cope in different situations and the benefits attached can't be compared to just being a pro in one skill.
A year ago, I decided to start rearing chicken for eggs. The goal was to have 1000 birds and to get started, I needed a cage.
I went to the sawmill to get a few planks, added them to the ones I found in the neighborhood, and came up with something. You can tell it's not perfect judging from the picture but it is serving its purpose.
I started with two birds and today I have seven in total. They have outgrown the space and I am already planning an expansion that will be done by me.
Calling a carpenter to get that done will cost me quite a lot of money but doing it myself will help me save the money for other things.
It doesn't end with building a cage, I remembered renovating my kitchen cabinets when it collapsed some time ago.
I am good with electrical work to an extent and I have lost count of the electrical problems I have fixed in my home and for others.
I remembered when my fiancee got her shop, the guy who wanted to fix her wallpaper billed her too much and when I offered to do it, she thought it won't be okay until the job was finished. Talk about painting, cooking, gardening, and a few other things, I am not a professional but I can get these things done at an average level and whenever things get beyond my ability, I call the experts in that field.
Many of them have laughed about my attempt but after seeing how they fixed it, calling them another time is not certain.
Aside from saving and managing resources, being able to do these things by myself has helped me to be creative. Many times, all I have is just an idea, and involving the creative side of me always gets the job done.
Doing some of these things myself gives me ideas of how they can be done better and boost my creativity level.
When living with less is taken away from a minimalist lifestyle, I think a lot has been taken away. The cost of calling experts to fix even the slightest issue in your home or at work is on the high side in my part of the world.
To live with less involves knowing how to do a lot of things by yourself and with that, a lot can be saved. It doesn't necessarily have to be perfect and as long as whatever you have done is serving its purpose then you are doing pretty well, you will definitely improve on that thing the more you do it yourself.
