For me it was quite a different journey, I started a few years ago by bumping approximately at the same time in r/declutter and r/zerowaste, which even though might seem to be contrasting (and I would be lying if I said that I had and occasionally have problems in balancing the two mindsets!) I still argue that there’s an overlap, with decluttering being for me a prerequisite towards a lower-impact lifestyle and the latter helping to maintain a clutter-free living space.

From a more environmentally conscious lifestyle then came the interest in simple living, and only from there I started reading more about minimalism. All of those things resonate a lot with me and with the life I want to live (also because I had mostly the opposite examples growing up, and I took too much time to realize how badly it influenced me), although I generally don’t consider myself a minimalist. It’s more that I have my definition of what “simple living” means to me and having less stuff means to having less to worry about - so, yes, I agree in feeling that they are interconnected, but I don’t think minimalism can be a goal in itself.

That said, a big part of the reason why I’m interested in all of these four themes is essentially political: to not cave in to a society designed towards making us consume (with all of its social and environmental implications). And on a more personal side of things, my definition of simple living, as an atheist and materialist, in the philosophical sense of the term, is that my life will always be shorter than I want, thus having less unimportant stuff, less distractions is to me an imperative in order to make the most out of this short time.

I typed a response to this yesterday, but my phone ate it. 🙃 For anyone else trying to comment here, you need to explicitly set the language of your comment to “English” when responding to Kbin users (which OP is.)

I started out in spaces related to minimalism before I found the simple living movement. It definitely felt like a good fit in some ways, but a very bad one in others. For example, I definitely prefer to own less stuff than the average person, but I would say that for me this comes from a rejection of consumerism. Whereas many “minimalists” are very driven by consumerism: opting for buy very few items, but only those of the best brands or with the right “aesthetic.”

There is also a tendency for grifting in those spaces. People become microcelebrities and put out blogs, videos, and even documentaries all rehashing the same, meaningless message. “My life was so terrible, and then I discovered minimalism and discarded all my possessions, and now my life is great.” The epitome of this is “The Minimalists,” two guys who somehow ended up with a Netflix documentary. This content has a great aesthetic, but lacks substance of any kind. They fail to dig into the things that explain why shopping doesn’t make us happy (the hedonic treadmill,) or provide a meaningful critique of consumerism.

So, compared to the average person, I would say that I am a minimalist. But it isn’t an identity I would tout in front of self-professed “minimalists,” because we have fundamentally different values.