The Picture and the Frame

I've been delving into the minimalist/maximalist thing for awhile, and it has produced a certain amount of frustration for me. I will see if I can clear that up a bit.

I am a lifestyle minimalist. I live in a simple way. I don't like having a lot of things. This works for me. If it is a material good I can live without, I get rid of it. This makes my life function in a more elegant way.

I deviate from minimalism in my intellectual endeavors. On that, I am a maximalist. I have countless numbers of feeds on my feed reader. I have an iPod packed with music, podcasts, books, and apps. I read voraciously. I write on a wide range of subjects. I feel like I have turned my back on minimalism.

I see the relationship between these two things as the picture and the frame. To me, a frame should not be ornate but simple. It should be virtually invisible. But the picture should have something in it. It should not be blank. It can have much going on or little. Likewise, your lifestyle is the frame. Your life is the picture.

The C-blog reflects this picture/frame relationship. I have opted for a simple design and eschewed a bunch of clutter. But my posts are packed full of information. I rock out on the substance even if I keep a subdued style. I think this creates a perfect balance.

I read other minimalist blogs, but they are pretty damn boring. You can only say and write so much about minimalism. This is because minimalism is minimalist.

True minimalism has that iceberg quality about it with the tip appearing above the surface but great mass below the depths. Ernest Hemingway has this effect with his sparse prose.



When I try to maximize everything in my life, it leads to chaos and disorder and stress. When I try to minimize everything in my life, it leads to boredom and stagnation and restlessness.

When it comes to media consumption, the problem isn't how much you have available at your fingertips. It is how much time you spend on it. Decreasing the variety is not going to fix this problem. The problem is the time you spend on it. One hour spent reading one newspaper is worse than spending fifteen minutes flipping through a stack of magazines. The frame is the time you budget. The picture is what you do during that time.

The answer for me is to distinguish between what is the picture and what is the frame. Minimalism for me means putting boundaries on a full life, so that you can enjoy it more.

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