Life

5+ Things I Can’t Live Without, as a Minimalist (Apocalypse Version)

The pandemic makes me learn one of the most valuable lessons – tough times get you to reconsider what’s important in your life, general priority likes the relationships, different type of commitments you put yourself into and worldly materials.

Staying at home most of the time during the earlier period when COVID-19 hits, I realise that I don’t really need stuff. If I were to pack a bag to go through this kind of period again, these are the things that I would bring with me.

Glasses

I am short-sighted, with a prescription degree of -5.75 dioptres for both sides. When I first wake up every morning, I need the aid to see clearly. So I need my glasses. During the day now, I wear contact lenses because they feel more comfortable with my hijab, as glasses tend to cause me headache as I slip them under my hijab. Lenses also make me look prettier but most probably it will be harder to manage wearing contact lenses daily in a apocalypse time or war-zone.

Phone or laptop

I want to be able to write every day and, of course, consume, i.e. reading, reading the Quran, listening to audio content and watching videos. Right now, I do the consuming part with my phone, and the creating is always done with my laptop. However, I’m not sure if electricity and internet are still available during a chaotic time.

Pen and paper

So let’s say I can’t have a phone or a laptop, then let’s get even more basic. A pen and paper, whether a notebook, journal or paper in loose form. Every day, even in the age that people mostly do things digitally, I do ‘thinking’ with a pen on paper. They are like my second brain or an extension of myself and storage.

I pray that I will have access to pens and papers till the day I die.

Bedding

While listing this down, my body is surged with gratefulness because all my life, I have always slept on a comfortable bed that I cannot imagine myself sleeping on the floor or thinly layered and uncomfortable bedding with no privacy. At the very least, I need some space or corner I can call my own. For the apocalypse, I will sleep with a sleeping bag under the bridge, in a big old cupboard, or perhaps under a big table.

Shariah compliance clothings

If I can only have one thing, this is it.

I need clothing to cover my body, pray and go out to see the world.

For shoes, perhaps I can live with a pair of slippers. (Malaysia’s climate being equatorial, hot and humid throughout the year, you don’t really need shoes unless you’re the jungle people. Oh well, jungle people are probably bare-footed.)

Something extra that is nice to have – Beauty products.

Alright, I know this is cheating, as I put five (5) in the title, and some of you might think this is not as important, especially during the apocalypse. But I do need beauty products to have a good day which includes a toothbrush, toothpaste, shower foam, shampoo, facial cleanser, moisturiser, sunblock, and lipstick.

Perhaps I can simplify by using the same liquid cleanser/soap for the body, hair and face, and then again, something a bit extra, the moisturiser, and lipstick. I’ve been wearing them daily since I was in high school. To lose them is like losing part of my identity.

Knowing my bare minimum

Looking at this list, I came to learn that this is my bare minimum – I can survive with just these 5-6 items. So, whenever I’m making excuses for things I don’t have in my life to progress further, this post will remind me that I already have everything.

/No, nobody will survive the apocalypse when it’s going to happen/