How I found Minimalism (or how Minimalism found me) Part 1

I wasn't always into simple living. Isn't that how it goes for most of us? We're living in the world of "average American" (for me at least, because I am in the US) and then something shocks us out of our stupor.

Well, I'll save you a lot of time by summing up the first part of my life in a nutshell. I had a great childhood. I lived in suburbia with middle class family. I have great parents, and my mom was a stay at home mom. My parents loved me and (still do) took care of me. I had no wants.

Although my  dad made a decent living, my parents were very anti-debt, anti-credit card etc., so while not minimalists, they were both raised by depression-era parents, and instilled good financial values in me. (I was a later in life baby :) )

Fast forward to me being 20 years old, and away at college. I went away to a college in an inner city, and it was a stressful environment, especially for someone like me who had never been exposed to poverty. This was my first experience in an environment nothing like I was used to.

Until I got sick. It started with inconsistent diarrhea for 2 weeks, and culminated to me passing bloody mucus and diarrhea upwards of 60 times a day. Obviously at this point something was very wrong, and for some reason I didn't tell my roommate (I don't know why. Was I embarrassed? Really? Why are people so embarrassed by bowel functions? Everyone has them). I was only an hour away, so my dad picked me up and took me to the hospital.

Over the course of 4 months, I was admitted to one hospital 3 times, and because they couldn't help me, I was eventually transferred to another hospital (via ambulance) and spent a total of 40 days in the hospital. I was diagnosed with colitis, put on anti-inflammatory drugs and steroids. But, I still wasn't getting better.

Then, I was also diagnosed with a bacterial infection call clostridium difficile. I took antibiotics. I seemed to be getting better, then I would relapse. I could not digest any food. I had track marks to rival your neighborhood addict, and eventually I had a pic line sewn into my arm, where I was administered parental nutrition (because I could not eat). I lost 30 pounds. I had to drop out of college.

When I was finally released the last time, I moved back home with my parents, where I was on a regiment of medication and an extremely strict diet.

I want to tell you now that that was 8 years ago, and other than having irritable bowel syndrome, I have made a full recovery and I have not had another bout of colitis or infection.

This was the first life changing event that made me rethink my priorities in life. When you spend your days in a hospital bed, unable to eat, you start really thinking about your life and what you want out of it. You start to realize $50 spent on jeans is stupid, and that validity of the statement "your health is the most important thing".

Having this experience at such a young age was actually beneficial, because it forced me to step back and say, "what is important? what do I want?" when I think for a lot of people this does not happen until they are older.

To Be Continued..