Nearing a Milestone
22 November 2011
Over the last month, since I decided to move and began to cull my physical possessions in earnest, I have given away or sold about 90% of my possessions in terms of number of items (CDs, DVDs, and books inflate that overall number quite a bit, of course).
In terms of volume, I am nearing but not quite at my goal of being able to move everything I own in one trip each of a car and a pickup truck. The only reason I need even a pickup truck is because of my bed.
I wasn’t completely expecting the biggest benefit I’d feel after all this: relief. This is not just relief at no longer having to pack or move all this stuff. This is the relief of feeling less owned by the things in my life, of having to care for them by finding a place to put them and time to use them lest they feel superfluous. It is the relief of knowing they have been placed into hands of people who might actually use them. It is the relief of not having to clean up after them. It will be the relief of finally having an uncluttered space again where I can concentrate on creating music instead of dodging all the stuff on the floor, the desk, the shelves.
After I have shed everything that I can or am willing to part with for now (which could actually be as early as tomorrow), I will count up my possessions and see where I stand in terms of the 100 Thing Challenge
I have never intended to shoot for a hundred things as a specific goal, but the basic idea of trimming everything that isn’t truly essential is a worthy one. Once I have made a count, I may decide that 100 or some other particular number is attainable. I’m pretty sure I won’t get that close to Leo Baubata of Zen Habits and Mnmlist.com: he is down to 43(!) things, which you can read about at http://mnmlist.com/50-things/