Adopting Minimalism

Youtube as you all know, is a wormhole. Once you get into it, there is no turning back. You enter youtube wanting to watch something and before you know you it an hour or more has passed by and you will probably be watching something that is totally unrelated to what you started watching in the first place. It can be both good and bad. Sometimes you end up finding educational stuff which will increase your knowledge a little bit by the end of that one hour that magically slips by but in most cases you just waste time watching video after video of things which wont add any value.

I went through a phase towards the end of last year where I was totally obsessed with Casey Neistat. His videos are thoroughly enjoyable and I have learnt a lot from him. The way he makes his videos, his editing skills and basically his work ethic is something that has inspired me and has rubbed off on me. I watched video after video to a point where it border lined on addiction. Towards the end of that phase, thanks to him I bumped into this other amazing creator from Canada named Peter McKinnon. Now this is one guy who really adds so much value to my life as an aspiring photographer. He teaches different aspects of photography and video making which is very inspiring and extremely educative. His videos also have an addictive nature to them but there is a lot of learning that comes out of his videos which makes the time spent watching his videos totally worth it.

All this aside, the one creator who really got under my skin is a guy named Matt D'Avella. Now this guy plays a different ball game all together. He struck a chord with me by delving into topics which I absent midendly and inadvertently follow and that is this concept called Minimalism. Every one of my friends who has been in touch with me or know me for more than a year know that I have an OCD towards cleanliness. I like it when there is no clutter. I like it when everything is organized and easy to find. I like it when everything is clean and neatly arranged and this is the basis on which he makes his videos. His ideas, his interviews of other people who are into minimalism and his amazing netflix documentary on Minimalism have inspired me further and made my belief in "less in better" concept much stronger. This is basically the premise behind the concept of Minimalism. Its about having what you need and getting rid of all the excess stuff there by making life simpler, easier and all together happier.

I've also been implementing this purge concept at home where I have been mercilessly giving away or throwing away stuff which we rarely use. Matt also explains this by saying that "if you haven't used something for 90 days, get rid of it" and that's something that I have been doing. Well not to the T but yes, to a very large extent. I still find throwing away or giving away stuff quite painful but once you get over that little hump you end up feeling much better. There is now one less thing that accumulates dust which is good.

Anything that doesn't really add value to your life is a waste and it only pulls you down. This could apply to both material things and also to people whom you interact with. I understand that I may come across as being a little harsh here but give it a thought and you will realize how being in that forceful relationship (be it just friends or a love interest)  has such an impact on your life.

We are already 6 days into this brand new year. A new slate, a fresh start. 2018 may have had its share of ups and downs but 2019 is here and the choice is ours to make positive changes in our lives. I for one have made a number of resolutions this year and adopting minimalism is one of them. Dedicate one hour a day towards decluttering and cleaning. It is both therapeutic and will have a positive impact on your life.

Try it and let me know your thoughts on it. 

Casey Niestat

I cant believe I haven't followed him all this while.

A few years ago, I saw two different videos of Casey, one where he shows how the first class section of some airline looked like and the other one where he and his wife Candice go to an Indian wedding. I never thought that he was so huge. I got hooked on Video Logs, vlogs in short since only a few months ago. My actual intention was something different but then as you know, YouTube is such a treasure trove and I found this gem as I dug deeper. I was in-fact looking for bike and car reviews as I was planning to buy a new car and a bike and in the process I ran into this guy named Sriman Kotaru. He's very good and I love the way he vlogs and then one thing lead to another and I ran into Casey. Casey's been around for more than a decade and there is so much of his content that I have to catch up on.

The funny thing about Casey is that hes not much of a looker but his content and the way he presents it is just magical. I feel like his vlogs are like a netflix series which we just cant get enough of. The good thing is that there are no seasons and I don't have to wait for years for the next one (GOT for example 😉) .

This guy Sriman I was talking about seems to have been heavily inspired by Casey. I love Sriman's content as well but the more I look at Casey's vlogs, the more I feel that Sriman kinda lifted off the entire idea from Casey. The signature on this vlogs, the way he unpacks stuff, the way he makes time lapses everywhere, his love story and all that bear such uncanny similarity with Casey that I feel there is a slight lack of originality. Well I'm not worthy of saying anything against either of them but I at least have freedom of expression. I think this warrants a bit of a disclaimer now.

DISCLAIMER: Sriman, if ever you read this blog, I want you to know that I do not mean to offend you in any way what so ever. I just noticed that uncanny similarity between Casey and you and just pointed it out that's all. I just love your content and I hope I run into you sometime in the city.

Anyways, coming back to my main topic, Casey Niestat. I've been a petro head since as long as I can remember and I think now is a good time to jump into the vlog scene. I may not have explored moto vlogging as much yet, but I feel there is a huge gap in that area. I see that most of the vloggers are rich kids who own or are somehow connected with guys having super bikes or cars and their vlogs revolve around that and normal guys like us end up drooling over these costly machines and kinda wish that we had something like that. I know these super cars and bikes will attract a lot of eyeballs, but I feel a majority of viewers are normal people who own normal bikes and cars and I feel the need to fill this void.

I am currently doing my homework to prepare myself for taking this plunge. I know competition is huge and I will really need to come up with stellar content. I hope in the near future I will be able to fulfill this dream of mine. Lets see how it goes.

Wish me luck!!