The Disease of More: Why You Feel Unhappy, Lost, Addicted & Stressed | Joshua Fields Milburn

In this podcast episode, Joshua Fields Millburn delves into the complex reasons behind why so many people feel overwhelmed by material possessions and why accumulation fails to bring lasting happiness. The conversation explores the concepts of emptiness, consumerism, identity, and the psychological impacts of modern consumption habits. Joshua shares insights from his personal journey, discusses health and wellbeing in relation to minimalism, and offers practical strategies for embracing intentional living by decluttering both possessions and mental burdens.

The Void Behind Consumption

Joshua begins by exploring the notion that many people's relationship with stuff stems from an inner void or emptiness. This void is often felt as a lack that people instinctively seek to fill—whether through relationships, food, sex, drugs, or acquiring material goods. Yet, objects never truly satisfy this emptiness; instead, the void tends to widen with consumption, often leading to debt and stress. The average American home, for example, contains around 300,000 items, but this abundance rarely equates to happiness. Instead, the assumption that external things inherently bring joy is a misunderstanding of consumption itself.

Consumerism vs. Consumption

He distinguishes between consumption and consumerism, emphasizing that while consuming necessary goods is part of life, consumerism is an ideology that equates more things with more happiness. Consumerism suggests that happiness is embedded in externalities—things that can be counted and measured like money, possessions, and social media metrics. This contrasts with the fact that happiness is an internal state, innate to human beings, as evident with infants who are joyful without any possessions. External clutter often serves to cover over this pre-existing happiness rather than reveal it.

Cultural Greed and Identity Clutter

Joshua discusses the ancient Greek concept of pleonexia, the greed for more things that can be measured, which is prevalent in modern societies obsessed with size of homes, bank accounts, and social media followers. Our identity often becomes intertwined with possessions and status markers—job titles, cars, clothes—as people use these external markers to demonstrate their worth. Yet, this creates "identity clutter," where individuals struggle to separate themselves from their material or social labels, making it difficult to let go of possessions or roles even when they no longer serve them.

The Internal Journey and Minimalism

Sharing his personal experience, Joshua recounts how life crises, including his mother's death and a divorce at age 28, sparked his journey toward minimalism. However, the process of detaching from consumerist patterns and identity clutter is ongoing and gradual. He emphasizes the importance of internal work—understanding emotional attachments and motivations—rather than only focusing on decluttering physical things. Minimalism is less about deprivation and more about creating spaciousness and clarity within life.

The Disease of More and Health Implications

A guest doctor in the conversation adds a compelling perspective by labeling the "disease of more" as the greatest societal illness. The constant drive for more achievements, possessions, and status leads to overwork, stress, and physical health problems. This desire for excess drives behaviors detrimental to wellbeing, such as poor diet and inadequate rest. The metaphor of "empty calories" applies both to nutrition and to life's consumptive habits, where what is consumed often lacks real nourishment for body and soul.

Sustainability and Consumer Consciousness

Joshua touches on the environmental and societal impact of overconsumption, mentioning the vast amounts of discarded clothing and goods, and labeling modern culture as throwaway. Minimalism encourages setting intentional boundaries around acquiring new things, including questioning the necessity and value of products before purchasing. This focus on mindful consumption helps reduce waste and lessen the mental clutter associated with managing too many possessions.

The Pursuit of Happiness Paradox

The podcast highlights an insightful critique of the "pursuit of happiness," a phrase embedded in foundational cultural documents like the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Joshua explains that this pursuit can be problematic when happiness is viewed as a future goal contingent on achieving external markers of success. This mindset fosters chronic discontent, as individuals delay joy until certain conditions are met—income levels, relationship status, or possessions—only to find those benchmarks fail to deliver true fulfillment.

Desire and the Role of Lack

Joshua presents a nuanced view on desire, suggesting that often people do not want the objects themselves (like a BMW or designer jeans), but the feeling of desire itself. Desire, in this view, can be a motivating and creative force. However, acquiring the object typically extinguishes the desire and the associated excitement. Healthy human existence may involve embracing a shared experience of "lack," which ties people together in community and growth rather than chasing unattainable fullness through things.

Mental and Emotional Clutter

The conversation expands to recognize that physical clutter reflects internal clutter—mental, emotional, and spiritual baggage that influences decisions about possessions and life choices. Anxiety, grief, and societal pressure create noise that drives consumption as a coping mechanism. Effective decluttering, therefore, requires addressing these internal states alongside the external environment.

Practical Strategies for Minimalism

Joshua shares practical tools to help people begin decluttering, such as the 30-day minimalism game, which encourages discarding progressively more items each day, turning the process into a cooperative and fun challenge. Rules like the "90/90" clothing rule and the "spontaneous combustion" test (asking what you'd feel if an item suddenly disappeared) help guide decisions. Importantly, he stresses that material boundaries and removal strategies are only helpful when underpinned by clarity about personal values and the deeper why behind decluttering.

Rethinking Identity and Letting Go

Identity redefinition is a recurrent theme. Joshua suggests focusing on verbs (actions) rather than nouns (labels) to unburden personal identity. Letting go of outdated identities—whether related to job roles, possessions, or past hobbies—frees one to explore current passions without the weight of old stories. This shift is liberating and encourages people to live more authentically.

Relationship to Others and Using Things

Minimalism extends beyond objects to relationships. Joshua advocates for "love people, use things" as a guiding principle, contrasting the commodification of human connections with the tendency to treat possessions as sources of affection. Genuine love involves acceptance and presence, not transaction or conditions, and nurturing quality relationships is linked intrinsically to wellbeing and happiness.

The Impact of Advertising and Digital Clutter

The episode also explores the pervasive influence of advertisements and digital noise, which fuel consumerism by constantly creating artificial needs and insecurities. Joshua mentions his personal rule of avoiding purchases from social media ads and switching to ad-free services like YouTube Premium to reduce interruptions and mental clutter. The omnipresence of marketing messages requires intentional strategies to maintain clarity and composure.

Challenges and Evolution of Minimalism

Both hosts acknowledge that minimalism is a lifelong, evolving practice rather than a fixed destination. Real realizations often come years into the journey, such as recognizing the futility of trying to impress others through possessions or achievements. Minimalism involves ongoing self-awareness, resisting societal pressures, and continually refining what matters most.

Joy, Contentment, and the Unmeasurable

Central to the philosophy expressed is the idea that true joy and contentment are unmeasurable and can't be quantified like possessions or social metrics. Deep satisfaction arises from intangible, internal experiences such as connection, presence, and engagement with life. This understanding invites a shift away from counting towards appreciating the qualitative richness of human experience.

Minimalism's Universality Across Circumstances

Finally, the conversation addresses concerns about the relevance of minimalism for those in poverty or difficult circumstances. Joshua shares that minimalist principles apply universally because they focus on cultivating joy and intentionality regardless of material wealth. Minimalism is not about rejecting money or success but about de-emphasizing the false promise that more things equal more happiness, making room for meaningful contentment at any income level.