Minimalism Synthesis: The American Dream

Response Paper #1: Minimalism Synthesis While the idea of an American Dream has been around for many years and transformed through time, it has overwhelmingly remained the same at its core. Generally, people want to be successful, have a job, be comfortable, live a long and relatively stress-free life, all with their most important possessions. The fact is: this looks different to everyone. Some people may want a mansion on a lake with a boat, while some may want a cozy home with kids, and others may want just a small apartment near a bookshop. The American Dream has taken many new faces in history, and one of those faces includes one of minimalism. Minimalism is the lifestyle where one limits their material goods to those that serve a specific
Minimalism offers countless benefits such as improving mental health and functioning sufficiently under a limited budget, which is something many Americans should at least consider in order to live in a simpler manner. Recently, mental illness has become more common in society. This may come from many factors, including the internet, social media, and advertisements. With the aid of technology, a vast array of information is at its users’ fingertips. This leads to people feeling pressured into contributing in these social norms where people own big houses with rooms that they don’t use (Minimalism, Source Y), filled with unnecessary and expensive furniture that they don’t understand (Source J), competing for the largest salary they can gain access to, which can cause an overwhelming sense of unhappiness. Ryan
Often, a smaller living space paired with a reduced amount of belongings costs less, thus the financial appeal. This does not work solely for those with smaller incomes: anyone could utilize the advantages of spending less. First, it could lead to a financial stability. If an event causes a person to spend a large amount of the money they have saved, it would impact them much less if they had been consistently avoiding spending it all because living only for a paycheck is not equivalent to living (Source B). Like the author Patrick Rhone explained so wisely, people “don’t have control,” over the money they make, but they can, however, control how much of that money they spend (Source H). Not only can minimalism provide potential future aid, it can also help much closer to the present. When Colin Wright, an entrepreneur and full-time traveler, became aware that he never fulfilled his dream to travel the world, he stopped what he was doing and left to change that failure. Though he is technically homeless, he still makes money and he is able to maintain that because he finds temporary homes to live in, rather than permanent ones, which would cost much more (Source R). Some may argue that minimalism is far too extreme or dismiss it as some millennial style or even claim that no one should live out of a bag by choice, but the reality is that it is