Minimalism: A New Reality. Lessons Of COVID-19 [14]

During the lockdown period, I found out that I really did not need most of the activities that drain my time and energy to enjoy life and living. 

Minimalism involves creating more and consuming less. It involves removing excess stuff from our lives. 

There are so many people around us that we don’t we don’t need. There are so many things around you that you don’t use or need. Just take a look at your home and you will see many clothes and shoes you have not worn for months before the lockdown, and several you did not wear during the lockdown.

There is a psychological disorder called compulsive hoarding. It is a behavioural pattern of accumulating stuff that you don’t even need and will never use. I think that many of us suffer from this syndrome to some degree. 

Money we should have invested in more productive and profitable ventures are spent on liabilities. There is a Mercedes Benz G wagon, I see, that has been parked in the same spot for more than twenty years. Imagine the waste. 

There are several ceremonies you attend that are not really necessary. It would have been more profitable for you to have sent your gifts, and spent time with your family. 

My wife and my last child were able to spend time in our farm after the relaxation of the lockdown order. I could see the relaxation and joy in my wife. It’s been long since I saw her like that. 

Burials and weddings that used to be very stressful because of large crowds are under strict instructions not to have crowds of more than 50 people. That definitely means there will be no live band, there will be no retinue of different social groups the dead person and his/ her children belong to. I wonder if the person will not make heaven because of the small crowd.

I saw weddings conducted in private homes and online, with no stress. The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, allowed couples to get their marriage licences online. 

Most of the things we do are done to impress others, even if they stress us and deprive us of liberty. We put ourselves under pressure to belong to so many organisations and the financial implications of attendance.

You need to create more time for improving on yourself, develop new skills, and exercise. 

Read previous Lessons From COVID-19 here.

During the lockdown, several people, who were not exercising before in Lagos, took to the streets to exercise. Even though some were arrested, it goes to show that the hustle and bustle of Lagos life and dangerous traffic prevents people from exercising. 

I live by a busy dual carriageway, and I have hardly heard any car horns since I have been writing this post. It’s so soothing to my soul.

Before the lockdown, there were people who were in church nearly everyday from Sunday to Sunday, attending one program or the other. One prayer meeting graduates into another prayer meeting or deliverance. Have we experienced more deaths or demonic activity during this restriction of church activities? 

A lot of us clutter our lives with too many activities to the detriment of our homes, health, academics, and businesses. I was in a church to preach, and I noticed that some folks attended the five services in that church.

Minimalism is the new reality. 

We can do more and live more, with less suffocating schedules.

It is true I have not made money during the lockdown, but I have lived a better life. There were days like today, when I didn’t have money, but we are able to ration what we have at home. I hardly drive my car except for very essential trips like buying poultry feeds and going to the farm. In the beginning, I usually ate half of my dinner, and ate the remaining the next day. 

Thank God for the poultry; we were able to survive on the sales we made bearing in mind the need to buy feeds. 

I used very few clothes and just one shoe. I made only very essential phone calls and occasionally had credit sent to me, but I am having a great time. 

Any way, I have never had much in life but I have learnt to make great use of less. 

Check your life; declutter it and make more meaning out of living. 

God bless you.

Read the next lesson: Rule Over This Virus Now or it Will Ruin Many.