There’s this urge to turn yourself into a brand online. No matter how specific your interests are, no matter how tiny you think the niche is, social media compels you to believe that if you want to participate in that culture you must become a copy of those who came before you.  

If you come online hoping to research anything - how to be a writer, how to organize your home, how to exercise - you are instantly bombarded with people who are not only far more advanced at that thing than you are, but they’ve cultivated their social media presence in such a way that you think the only way to get where you want to go is to buy what they’re selling. Surely they have the secret, right? 

Minimalism is a movement that is quite literally about living with less, and yet if you go online to research minimalism you’ll soon find that people are more than happy to sell you lots and lots of things in order to become a minimalist. Minimalist home organization supplies. Minimalist tables. Minimalist jewelry. Minimalist…refrigerators? (I googled it and the first search result is $4600.) Slap a branded label on it and suddenly you can sell a “minimalist decorative branch” for $250…for a stick you are going to lean in a corner of your room as decoration. 

Christine Platt is an expert on minimalism, personal branding, and navigating this uncomfortable confluence of authentic exploration and capitalism. She’s the author of The Afrominimalist’s Guide to Living with Less, and she says there’s a way to live with less without buying more. It’s all about creating an intentional life. 

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