{"id":11030,"date":"2025-06-30T17:25:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T21:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/the-danger-of-assuming-your-experience-is-universal\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T17:25:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T21:25:28","slug":"the-danger-of-assuming-your-experience-is-universal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/the-danger-of-assuming-your-experience-is-universal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Danger of Assuming Your Experience Is Universal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.becomingminimalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/your-experience-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32805\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.becomingminimalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/your-experience-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.becomingminimalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/your-experience-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.becomingminimalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/your-experience-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.becomingminimalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/your-experience-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.becomingminimalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/your-experience-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>There is a small nuance in language that I often find myself chiming in on when I see a need to do so. <\/p>\n<p>At first, the adjustment seems and sounds small. But in reality, there is a life-giving truth contained in it. And equally so, a great danger in missing it.<\/p>\n<p>I first noticed this years ago, during a conversation about minimalism.<\/p>\n<p>I was speaking with a woman who had just started simplifying her home, and she said, \u201cIt\u2019s just really difficult for me because I\u2019m a woman. And women like nice things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think she meant to say it in a negative way. In fact, I\u2019m sure she didn\u2019t. It was just something she believed to be true. <\/p>\n<p>But immediately, my mind went to the dozens of women I know\u2014both online and offline\u2014who have exemplified for me what it looks like to live a simple life. Many women I know who aren\u2019t captivated by \u201cnice things,\u201d and who have both chosen a different path and speak boldly about the freedom they\u2019ve found because of it.<\/p>\n<p>So I offered back a different perspective: \u201cWell, not all women like nice things. Just some do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a small change\u2014just one word added to the sentence. But this is an important point. Because if <em>all<\/em> women love nice things, then yes, simplicity becomes impossible. But if it\u2019s only <em>some<\/em>\u2026 suddenly there\u2019s room to choose something different.<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, I\u2019ve heard the same kind of reasoning show up in different forms:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cWomen love fashion.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cGuys are into cars.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cPeople who grew up poor aren\u2019t able to get rid of stuff.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cTeachers always hold onto every resource.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cReaders never part with their books.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cArtists need clutter to be creative.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In each case, a personal experience is projected outward\u2014assumed to be universal and by extension, unchangeable.<\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s the thing: they\u2019re not universal truths.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Some<\/em> women love fashion. But not all women.<\/li>\n<li><em>Some<\/em> men buy expensive toys. But not all men.<\/li>\n<li><em>Some<\/em> people who grew up poor have a hard time getting rid of stuff. But not all.<\/li>\n<li><em>Some<\/em> teachers keep every resource.<\/li>\n<li><em>Some<\/em> people struggle to declutter because of their past.<\/li>\n<li><em>Some<\/em> readers can\u2019t get rid of books.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each of these statements is more accurate than the universal assumption we make based on our own experience.<\/p>\n<p>And the more we realize that, the more we can grow and expand our potential to change. Because if we are tied to our behavior because of something we cannot change, we are a prisoner to it. But once we see not everyone\u2019s tendency is the same as ours, we are free to choose a different path.<\/p>\n<p>This is good news that we all need to hear. <\/p>\n<p>To illustrate this point, after a speaking event one evening, a woman shared her story with me. She and her sister grew up in a home of extreme hoarding. \u201cBecause of that experience,\u201d she told me, \u201cI became a minimalist because I wanted nothing to do with the lifestyle. But my sister became a hoarder. Same childhood, same environment\u2014but we chose opposite paths.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve never forgotten her words and the power of her example.<\/p>\n<p>There may be inherited tendencies in our past because of our upbringing, but we are never a prisoner to them. Our behaviors aren\u2019t always universal. And just because something feels familiar doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s required. We always have the power to break patterns that no longer serve us. <\/p>\n<p>The more tightly we hold onto sweeping assumptions\u2014about ourselves or the world around us\u2014the more we limit what\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n<p>We assume, \u201cIt\u2019s not just me. Everyone is the same way. I can\u2019t help it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But what if that\u2019s not true? What if the story you\u2019ve been telling yourself about who you are and what you need isn\u2019t the only story that can be told?<\/p>\n<p>You may have grown up in a home where the women loved fashion, but that doesn\u2019t mean every woman loves fashion. And once you see that, you can begin to overcome that temptation.<\/p>\n<p>You may have grown up in a family where the men loved cars, but that doesn\u2019t mean every man loves cars. And once you see that, you can overcome that obsession.<\/p>\n<p>If you are an artist who believes every artist requires lots of stuff to be creative, you\u2019ll never open yourself up to the possibility that \u201cthe enemy of art is the absence of limitation\u201d (as Orson Welles once said).<\/p>\n<p>Freedom begins when we stop assigning our limitations to the world and start reclaiming the possibility of change. That is why it is so dangerous to assume our experience is universal.<\/p>\n<p>I do not mean this to sound harsh or aggressive. Just the opposite, I hope it will open up potential and opportunity in your life to live differently.<\/p>\n<p>Change is always possible. And if a change in your life would benefit you and your loved ones, I hope this truth will empower you to experience it today.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a small nuance in language that I often find myself chiming in on when I see a need to do so. At first, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}