Get Rid of Stuff!
How much stuff do
you have? How much stuff do you think you need? How much does it cost in time
and money to care for the stuff you own? Does your stuff make you happy?
“He who is not
contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to
have.”
― Socrates
If you are feeling
overwhelmed with life, it may be time to get rid of some stuff. It may be time
to decide how much stuff you really need. I’m not talking about living a
monastic life. I’ve tried that. I’m talking about simplifying life. Deciding
what you really need and living by a personal mission statement.
“It isn't what you
have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy
or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”
― Dale Carnegie
After all the kids left home, my husband and I downscaled
from a four-bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment. We had a garage sale and
got rid of a ton of stuff. Some of the stuff we hadn’t used in years. Some of
it was just too bulky to fit into our new home. After a couple of years in this
smaller domain and realizing we didn’t need the extra bathroom and bedroom,
which were just excuses to accumulate more stuff, we looked for a one-bedroom,
one-bathroom apartment.
Freedom
The time came to scale down even more. Here we thought we
had gotten rid of so much stuff, but there was still more we could live
without! By eliminating the extra space, we needed less stuff to fill our new
space.
“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.” ― Martha Washington
Now, when I go shopping, I don’t get tempted by stuff I see
that I “just gotta have.” I don’t have room for more stuff. I only have room
for what I really enjoy. It takes about a half hour to clean the entire place.
I have time to do things I love and am not a slave to things I have to do to
maintain STUFF.
Simplicity
When you lose your focus on stuff, the world opens up to
you. You have extra TIME you need to fill. Meditating on what you really want
to do with your life is a great exercise. I still haven’t figured it out, but I
am FREE to decide and not a slave to the tyranny of STUFF.
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