On Aug. 15, 2025, I gave away my TV. I used to be rising bored with this rat race throughout my workweek. Each night and weekend, I might come residence, sit on my sofa and binge-watch content material to decompress. Throughout these instances, I usually contemplated why my time handed by rapidly, why I felt so bodily fatigued and why I didn’t really feel fulfilled throughout my time without work. It was time to banish the TV from my house.
I spotted that being deeply emotionally invested in tv exhibits was detrimental to my psychological well being. As a minimalist, I wished to problem myself by giving up my TV to permit extra productiveness throughout my time without work. My purpose was to spend extra time outdoors my house, however little did I do know that I might turn out to be a cooler model of myself. I sought to find what Seattle has to supply by making an attempt one thing new.
I started my journey by exploring meetup teams. I checked out varied on-line and in-person meetups, and I wished to flex my dialog abilities with strangers. I visited artwork museums in Seattle, skated for the primary time at Southgate Curler Rink, attended karaoke nights at varied pubs and celebrated Halloween on the Void in West Seattle. I found a distinct segment water sport and joined the WAM Dragonboat Membership on the Renton Rowing Middle, the place I dove paddle-deep into preparation on Lake Washington for nationwide and worldwide races. As I grew to become extra bodily match, I gained the boldness to start out martial arts, the place balintawak (Filipino stick preventing) and Muay Thai awed me at The Ruffhouse in downtown Renton. I even stroll outdoors extra, and my favourite weekend pastime is to go to new parks in King County — most lately, I wandered by the Washington Park Arboretum on Thanksgiving.
I skilled issues that I might not have fathomed in the beginning of 2025: That feeling of sitting on the calm waters of Lake Washington after an intense paddling session whereas listening to the sound of heavy respiratory from my teammates; the enjoyment of harmonizing off-key with buddies at Dino’s Pub in Renton and the Rock Field in Capitol Hill; humorously analyzing phallic interpretations of garden gear on the Frye Art Museum (courtesy of Jamie Wyeth); the shock of being smacked onerous within the leg for the primary time in Muay Thai; the embarrassment of buddies holding my hand on my means across the curler rink to forestall me from falling on my face; and the satisfaction that I did one thing fulfilling in my free time has helped my confidence develop this previous 12 months.
Nevertheless, I’m not good. Once I get residence from an extended day at work, I’ll usually open the YouTube app on my telephone and take heed to my favourite creators, filling that inevitable void of silence. Generally — on dangerous days — I’ll lie in mattress and devour content material on my laptop computer, simply to close down my mind for some time. However with this in thoughts, I’ve turn out to be bodily stronger, mentally resilient and elevated my sense of group in Renton and Seattle.
If solely I had identified sooner how a lot my TV was holding me again from dwelling absolutely, oh, I might have parted with that heavy display screen way back. Letting go of it opened my world in unimaginable methods, proving that typically, the largest development comes from the smallest modifications. Possibly my subsequent transformation will come from decluttering my smartphone? The minimalist journey continues.
