Sometimes, I wonder if my path to minimalism was the correct one.

****I'ma preface that this is heavily based off my own experiences in the mid-2000s to 2010s, and the internet wasn't always the best source of information.****<br><br>I grew up in a hoarding situation, to the point that our electricity and water would sometimes get cut off during the summer because of the mess and bugs it would attract. I never had clean clothes to wear to school or had many friends because they didn't want to come over. I only had one friend in school I could rely on, and that was it. <br><br>For as long as I could remember, my mom was a compulsive buyer and she refused to get rid of anything. The minute we'd throw something away, she'd dig through the trash and pull it back out. I was a kid, so I didn't fully understand what was wrong with her, but I knew in my heart something was very wrong. <br><br>Once I got into high school, I started reading about minimalism and I knew that I wanted to pursue that goal. The problem was my mom's OCD also extended to me. I was never allowed to get rid of anything. It hurt me so much because she never wanted to listen to me. She thought I was trying to attack her. <br><br>I waited for years until I graduated, moved out, and got my first job. All of those years I spent researching minimalism. I bought a book on it, and I followed all of the rules to a T. I followed all of the subreddits. I read about all sorts of 'hacks', and I thought I was doing something right. <br><br>I couldn't wait to get out of the hoarding situation. I couldn't wait to leave all of that behind. I hated my mom for ruining my childhood. I hated that she made life so hard for me. <br><br>After moving out, I threw out the majority of my belongings. Anything that I didn't want or didn't need, I either donated, threw out, or sold. I didn't even bat an eyelid! I was so happy to get rid of everything. I felt free. I felt like I could finally live. <br><br>I think that's the biggest problem for me. I felt like I was attacking my mom, and that's not what minimalism is about. I can freely admit I have a lot of animosity towards her. It's been over a decade and I'm still trying to heal and forgive her. <br><br>When I see other people outside of the minimalism community talking about how all of us seem to follow the same rules, I feel like I'm part of that 'mob' that is condemning people like my mom, and that hurts. I hate how they think they can just wake up one day and throw out everything because that's what we do. <br><br>That's not how it should be. I didn't throw out everything I owned because I hated consumerism, I did it because my mom put me through a situation where she was more concerned about the items she bought than my own well-being. I was the reason why our electricity and water were turned off! I wanted to feel like I was worth something more than the value of an item. <br><br>I'm not a minimalist, and I don't think anyone should be shoehorned into that label. There's a huge difference between minimalism and a minimalist. Minimalism is about getting rid of the things you don't need to live. Nobody on this chamber should be attacked for their '"hoarding" because it's more than that. The problem is that we, as a collective, don't talk enough about problems with compulsive shopping and hoarding. We don't talk about people who actually are in situations like mine where we NEED to throw out our belongings because they're a hazard and can cause psychological and physical harm. And I don't think that's fair. <br><br>I think I'm just angry about how minimalism is portrayed by the media and how they assume it's just about throwing out everything, because it isn't. <br><br>Sorry if this was all over the place, I guess this is just a rant about my feelings towards minimalism.