Photo by Brian Benfield

[This is the latest installment of “Cobb Cuisine, Culture and Community” by Brian Benefield]

Looking back on our recent holiday adventures around Marietta, I notice a glaringly obvious thing in many of the pictures we took. Lots of more. More food, more drinks, more gifts, more decorations, more of everything. More isn’t necessarily bad, but sometimes, and quite often, less can be more. I’ve been studying this concept of minimalism for many years now, and at first, I had the common misconception that it’s about living with only three outfits to wear and nothing on your kitchen counters. That couldn’t be further from the truth.  

My writing professor, Joshua Fields Millburn, is the co-founder of The Minimalists and has published many books on the concept of how living with less can offer peace of mind and make your life more functional on a day-to-day basis. If you were to come to my house, you probably wouldn’t think, hey, this guy is a minimalist. No, because it’s always a process to keep purging the stuff we don’t use often or clothes we haven’t worn in over a year. But, we did take about five thousand trips to Goodwill when we bought our much smaller home in 2018, and while actually doing the process of reducing our things seemed overwhelming, once we moved in, it felt so gratifying to own less stuff to manage. 

I still have more clothes than I need, and since I love to cook, I have more rarely used kitchen gadgets than I can count. But now that we have turned a new page into a new year, I will go through many areas of our house and begin the donating process. For me, the key is to do this several times throughout the year, not just because it’s 2024. Pick a room, a set of drawers, or a closet to tackle over trying to take on huge projects, which makes it more feasible to get it done.  Everyone wants to reinvent themselves when a new year comes around, and that is a great sentiment, but you’ll be surprised to find out that when your home becomes a place of peace and simplicity, how your mind will follow that concept. 

Joshua created a great idea named the Thirty-day Minimalism game, where you pick one item to donate on day one, two things on day two, and so on until day thirty. We’ve tried this many times, and it’s more fun with a partner, but not easy once you get into days fifteen and above. Doing these types of games makes it more manageable and breaks up the monotony of getting rid of things. My wife, Cecilie, and I have long ago taken on the idea of only giving consumable gifts to our friends and family. An experience such as a dining gift card, a bottle of wine, or the gift of a tour of their town will be much more memorable than a tchotchke that’ll likely be in a landfill sooner than later.  

There are many notions we can adopt in our daily lives other than owning less that will immediately positively impact ourselves and those around us. Complimenting someone is like giving them a superpower. Connect with more of your people this year, and remember the global pandemic that prevented us from being together not too long ago. Well, let’s never forget the opportunity to connect with others.  Stuff isn’t that important, and I would rather spend a bit more for a quality item that lasts longer and is timeless than own a bunch of cheap things that are obsolete quickly. Make your home less about stuff and more about functionality and serenity, and you may find out how it can really ease your mind in the new year.  

Brian Benefield is an Atlanta native born in Dekalb County, who has lived in Cobb since 2003. He has worked in Hospitality, Marketing, Real Estate, and most recently Food Tourism. Married to Cecilie Benefield for 12 blissful years. They have a dog, Miss Pickles. Hobbies are mountain biking, running, gardening, and trying new recipes in the kitchen. Member of Les Marmitions cooking club since 2016, where we cook 5-course meals with local Atlanta chefs.