What is a Minimalist Thrill-seeker and How to Become One.
I begin this weeks post with a short recount from the first time I went to Santorini, a small and beautiful Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It was the peak of Summer; Music from small shops was in the air, the sun sparkled off of the ocean and reflected off of all white surfaces so that you had to wear sunglasses everywhere, ice creams and frozen yoghurt stalls were playing Greek music over their portable radios and fresh seafood was hanging from the front of every restaurant we passed. Despite the blistering heat, we made our way down the Donkey stairs to arrive at set of two stairs and reserve our first class view of one thing, the sun setting into the ocean. We arrived almost 3hours early and already hundreds of people were following suit, trying to find their best vantage point for tonights show. I was shocked. Over the course of the last couple of hours of daylight, a crowd of 10s of thousands had made their way to one side of the island to see what is known as the world’s most beautiful sunset. When it ended, everyone unanimously applauded the sky - as if it were the end of the world’s greatest play. For a moment, the expensive watches, name brand handbags and dresses were ignored as everyone watched this natural spectacle. I enjoyed the view, but I couldn’t help but feel a strange sensation. It was lovely, don’t get me wrong, but it was a sunset - the same sun, the same sky, that each of us see each day. Had these people ever spent the time to enjoy this beauty from their own countries? Why did it take an entire trip overseas to learn how to slow down and enjoy something the entire world experiences once a day? It sent my mind on a search to answer one simple question, why are we not slowing our lives down each day and enjoying the gifts that the world has to offer us more often?
The term Excitability Threshold (ET) is one that I have been using with friends to explain the phenomenon I experienced during the COVID19 lockdown and is simply the minimum required stimulus (i.e. activity/object) to trigger a positive feeling/emotion (i.e. joy/excitement). It can be very dependent on our mood and the context of certain situations, but overall it increases for us over time. What once elicited the response to cross the ET and bring us joy and excitement now requires a greater stimulus to elicit the same positive feeling we once experienced. A positive feedback loop that never ends. For example, the next car we want almost always seems to be more expensive, bigger and faster than the current one we own. We let our ET control our mindset and desires, seeking more and more.
The next term I came up with was ‘Minimalist Thrill Seeker’ or MTS for short. A MTS is someone who keeps their ET in check, making sure to not require greater and greater inputs to evoke a positive response. In other words, someone who is able to require less to still feel a positive response to something. For an MTS, money is not linearly correlated to the enjoyment or pleasure gained from an item or experience, in fact, they have managed to reverse this common misconception. A $5 coffee and a book could become a highlight of a MTS’s day, or so could simply watching a sunrise or sunset. This makes a MTS an individual that is empowered, why? Because they can feel just as good in their life without having to pursuing a way to top the last experience. Each experience is considered significant and meaningful by no accident, it is a mindset that must be practiced day in and day out.
The creation of these terms seemed to be helping my friends to define exactly what they had been feeling during COVID19 - what they once needed to feel happy, had reduced significantly. For example, just a phone call to a friend made them feel as good as an expensive night on the town or simply going for a walk to the shops was considered real freedom rather than having to drive across town to their favourite walking trail. This phenomenon led me to try and define the ingredients necessary to reduce our ET’s and become MTS’s. This started with 3 simple questions..
A) How can we appreciate what we already have rather than focus on whatever else we want to have in the future?
B) Can we prove to ourselves that we can actually do and achieve more, with less?
C) How can we eliminate our distractions?
During the lockdown, many of us have had to go on an unplanned detox of the things that were keeping us distracted (Cars, houses, holidays, luxury items etc.) from areas of our lives that we should have been paying more attention to (Health, time in nature, nutrition, friends and family). Previously many of us may have felt like I had been moving forward (Well, that’s what society was telling us to rush towards, wasn’t it?) but we have all had to take several steps back to realise that the main areas that bring us true happiness were being ignored.
So, how exactly do you begin on your path to become a MTS you ask? Let’s take a look at the steps below..
1) Recognise and try to understand all of the stresses in your life: What are your sources of stress? How often do you engage in them? Do you choose them or are they forced upon you?
2) Plan ways to reduce your stress: What do you turn to when you are stressed? Does this actually help your situation or is it a ‘bandaid’ solution that is only temporary? What is an alternative you can try that you normally don’t? Think about the environment you will use these stress reducing techniques.
3) Acknowledge the energy you expend just to upkeep or seek out happiness: What requires big energy in for not much reward? How much of your attention span is this taking up? Where would you place this energy that could bring you the feeling of happiness and content without any significant funds or energy?
4) Appreciate what you already have: You may not have much, or anything at all, but you can give things new life or think outside the box to enjoy things in unconventional ways. After this, you can also consider how much you do away with to feel happy? This will be a challenging task but is extremely helpful in empowering you to be less reliant on more.
5) Focus on becoming content: Be happy with who you are, what you have and where your resources have gotten you in life so far. We can always set goals, but know the reasons why and make sure they fill you with purpose rather than just fill a void.
6) Expect less of your possessions and experiences: Not everything needs to be extremely exciting or requires the thrill of the chase, sometimes we need to sit back and enjoy what life has to offer us.
7) Be more present: Try live in the moment, focus on the now and where you are in it. Don’t let the stresses of tomorrow take advantage of your today (Obviously when it comes to exams, study and work tasks focussing on work ahead is important so please understand the context of this point).
8) Slow life down: Don’t rush from place to place, focus in on things and make sure to set yourself the time to stop completely and smell the roses - if you miss out on their perfume and just glance at them from a distance, do you really ever know what a rose is?
9) Do more with less: Self explanatory but a hard task indeed.
10) Enjoy the journey of life and embrace the hardships: Set goals and hold yourself accountable, the world will always throw difficulties your way and keep you distracted if you let it. The key is to see challenges as opportunities for growth and, from then, even hardship can bring joy. A mindset which can take a lot of practice before it truly takes shape.
If you want to improve your life, go for it, but first I challenge you to not only accept where you are in life right now, but try to enjoy it and see the positives in it. Reduce the ET required to keep you happy and become an MTS. We are sacrificing everything that the present has to offer us by chasing the future so alter your perspective once in a while.
One thing COVID19 has taught me day by day is that I can’t afford to take anything in life for-granted and that the only moment in life we ever truly have is the second in which we are standing in - so, are you on your way to becoming a Minimalist Thrill Seeker?
Book recommendation for further inspiration: “The art of frugal hedonism” by Annie Raser-Rowland and Adam Grubb
Please note: The Pavlosophy blog is general advice only. For further information please consult your healthcare professional.
