Responding to Prompt 3
When I saw this question, my first reaction was... Are you kidding me? 😂
What do I have to hide to keep minimalism a thing of secrecy? I am a single guy who isn't searching.
Oh! You can rub it off! Minimalism is what the country says right now. I’m not ready to pay bills 'cause I don't have a good job. I’m not ready to take care of any lady because I need to fund my education. Once I am done professionally, minimalism continues. 😂
Let me use my journey to church as a case study.
The transport fare to my church is 700 naira.
Because of my minimalist mindset 😂, I would take a tricycle for 100 and trek instead of taking a comfortable bike.
What is wrong with my natural tires?
Oh! As if that's not enough, I would rather farm to get potatoes than buy a single large tuber of potato for 1,000 naira.
The last time I checked, I realized I got 100 tubers of potatoes from a constant 1-hour devotion for 30 days. Let's do the calculation:
1,000 × 100 = 100,000. I just saved 100,000 naira.
Oh! There’s a shirt I’ve been wearing for years now—only God knows when I bought it for the ushering department. This same shirt has been used by me over and over. As if that is not enough, it's getting faded, yet I do not want to get another one. Anytime higher animals see me with this cloth, they know it's Joseph. No ID—just the cloth.
Oh! This reminds me of a day at the market with one of my colleagues. We were told to go get clothes from a store. My friend was after Gucci and other fancy clothes. I didn’t go against his idea. In fact, I helped him choose the best version of the clothes he wanted. He was amazed and happy.
He said, “Joseph, it’s your turn.”
I asked, “Have you paid for yours?”
He said yes.
Guess what I told him?
“Give me the money, and I’ll buy my style.” ❤️😍 Okrika...
Trust me, Nigerians here know Okrika—those clothes that are cheap, affordable, and quality.
Come on! I bought Okrika for a price one-tenth of his. I ironed it, and it turned out to last longer than his.
You know what? Minimalists see maintenance and durability, the flamboyant fashionista sees beauty (and quality, at times).
I grow my own pepper, which reduces the cost of buying.
Too much pepper! 🫑🌶️
Do you know what? I grow them at the front of my house. 😂
Next year, I will farm my fish and farm my chicken.
Everything no be buy-buy. We should try to manage. 😂
Every student in the house should have heard about sapa. Sapa taught me to be a minimalist right in school, and these minimalist skills have helped me manage my income well. 😍😻
From this brief but powerful writing, I say:
- The minimalist thinks quality, durability, and function.
- With a long-time focus—trying to save for the future.
- Not money, but the minimalist sees the need and similarities in function.
- The minimalist does not care too much about fancy materials.
- The minimalist is not a thinker (in the way the world sees thinkers).
- Minimalists are not born, but trained—by life, by issues, by problems, in a roller coaster that refuses to end.
- The minimalist is no preacher of love.
- The minimalist is a lover of time.
A minimalist discovers he is a minimalist only when he compares himself with his previous self.
Thanks.