First and foremost: this was posted on Monday the 22nd of April, 2013.<p>Secondly, the guy writing this is extremely privileged yet implying he somehow had a hard time and had to "escape" the system. If anything, his life was getting monotonous and he did indeed reset it, but not completely. He still had his massive bank account when he left for Thailand, so in the end it was just moving without having to transport all the belongings (as he got rid of everything).
It sounds like (or at least the title suggests that) the author would advocate this extreme approach to others? Perhaps I can advocate another approach:<p>If you're feeling signs of depression or panic attacks, seek out the help of a mental health professional.<p>There are real neurological and physical implications to the symptoms the author describes. Picking up and moving won't be an option to all, and may not work even for those who do have the option.
Shaking things up can be cathartic and sometimes the exactly right thing to do. More frequently, I've found, changing one's life in smaller degrees can have a profound effect on mood and well being: exercising more, eating healthier, getting more sleep, meditating, consuming less media, keeping a clean living space. It's worth checking the low-hanging fruit -- small things can make a big difference.
I had a panic attack recently. Let me tell you, it is worst feeling in the world. The urge to reset your life after such a event is almost natural. It's like, If I don't change right now, I would not be able to live any longer.<p>I started changing little things. I started sleeping more.<p>I made it a point to do a 6 Km walk everyday.<p>I cut down on alcohol.<p>I stopped seeing people whom I had wanted to avoid for a long time but was not doing so out of social pressures.<p>I started seeing my parents more often.<p>I also signed up for an online meditation course.<p>I started working less ( Looking back, this maybe was the most effective thing)<p>It takes days to overcome a full fledged panic attack. For days you would dread that you might get another panic attack when you're least expecting it. Like when you're in office or when you are driving or when you're shopping.<p>I have changed my lifestyle and I can tell you I am quite happy after I did so.<p>I hope OP also experienced something similar.
Not to play armchair psychologist but the whole minimalist thing strikes me as a way to put unnecessary extra stress on yourself. Having nothing means having no excuse not to constantly work, and you shouldn't constantly work. You should fucking relax every now and then, drink a few beers and watch something mindless on your obscenely large flatscreen.<p>Having shit is a way to make your life be about more than just what your early-20s self told you was necessary to consider yourself a success. If you think life is only worth living if you follow [insert well known person]'s biography to a T then your bound to have incidents that make you want to do crazy things like "reset" your privileged life.<p>* the preceding is not a judgment on the author's decisions, which are his own, but rather a commentary on the "minimalist" movement.
Uprooting your life and doing a "reset" as described will make you feel good for a while.<p>Unfortunately, "wherever you go there you are." You can't outrun yourself, and thinking a reset like this is anything more than a temporary band-aid is misguided.
Shaking things up and changing your life drastically is fun and exciting......... for a while. Then you have to learn to build a life that you find sustainable, whatever it is, or else you will always be running. This is sometimes called the "distance cure".<p>Again, doing this feels great. For a while. I did it myself. But you should learn to distrust that good feeling, to examine it and find out why it's happening. A note of warning though, you probably won't like what you find. It's really easy to fool yourself into thinking that you are effecting change when really you are doing anything but. We are being lied to, by ourselves.
"Life is like the best video game ever, it has amazing graphics, infinite amounts of levels, a huge map and this ridiculous great freedom. I just needed to pick up the controller."
They say that if you make over 35,000 a year you're in the top 1% of the WORLD.<p>How we look at the the ultra rich with their 4 mansions and Lamborghini's is how the average world citizen looks at people like this guy.
Alright to this guy had an anxiety attack, and decided to reset his life : <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6580196" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6580196</a><p>He went to Thailand and explained the process : <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6540030" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6540030</a><p>Then made a post of about how explaining his process has affected his blogs' stats : <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6577524" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6577524</a><p>Hopefully another epiphany in Thailand, another reset, another relocation, another blog post, another HN hit...?<p>break;
Why Thailand, though? I mean, Europe itself is more diverse than the US, for example, you could've moved anywhere within the continent and still have a massive change. Prague, Madrid, London, Berlin, Warsaw, Zagreb (new EU member, Croatia) all very different - why Bangkok? Could've moved to Australia even :-D
Last time I saw 'this post' was 643 days ago, and my observations then[1] still seem to be holding true now :)<p>[1]<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3470328" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3470328</a><p>Not that it's a bad thing! I'd just love to see a follow up from one of these.