However, after I did a dorm room inventory for one of my classes, I discovered I had things like 12 chapsticks on the list. This made me question both my sanity and how far I will go to make excuses to keep stuff. Would I keep saving stuff for years and years and years, filling every nook and cranny of where I live because MAYBE some of it will prove to be useful one day?
I mean, I am no hoarder, but I had gotten to the point where I started to run out of space for my things. Shoving things in closets and under beds only works to an extent. I was also stressed about the fact that I not only had my dorm room clutter to deal with, but also two bedrooms worth of stuff back home to deal with at some point too.
Now, I recognize that "Golly Gee! I just have TOO MUCH STUFF!" is a glaringly obvious First World Problem to have. Still, having too much stuff causes unnecessary stress in our lives. Sorting, managing, and organizing it all takes time away from fulfilling activities that we would rather be doing. We keep buying bigger and bigger houses not because we have bigger families nowadays, but because we need more space to store all of our stuff. I did not want to have that kind of life. I needed to simplify it.
I seriously actually did a google search on "how to simplify my life" because I guess I believe the internet has all the answers to all the important questions in my life. Every website on the topic had the same basic advice: identify what is most important in your life, and get rid of everything else.
"What is most important in my life?!" I thought. "I didn't know I had to figure out my LIFE just so I could get rid of some stuff!". Now I needed to figure out a way to gauge what matters to me. Needless to say, this did not help my stress level.
I cannot seem to remember where I even heard of the 100 Thing Challenge. In class? Doing my own snooping on the web? Who knows. That part doesn't matter so much. What does matter is that I took it last summer in order to prioritize what I really needed in life.
Well, a version of it.
You see, the actual premise of the 100 Thing Challenge is to reduce ALL of your possessions down to 100 things. I did no such thing (that's for crazy wackos!). Instead, I challenged myself to take only 100 items with me when I moved into a very small apartment with two guys who had pretty much already claimed every inch of space. So, I could not bring all of the stuff I usually bring to fill my dorm room. Seemed like a good time to try and live simply.
Based on what I have read of others who have taken their own 100 Thing Challenge, there are a variety of interpretations of what counts as an item. For instance, some hardcore people count each sock as an item. Others leave out "survival items" and only count items that are not needed to keep you alive.
Personally, I did not count items that were shared as a way to encourage myself to embrace communal living. In the end, even with that exception, I still brought 110 items. I was a little disappointed that I could not get my list down any further than that. Also, that number definitely did not stay at a constant 110 as the summer wore on.
I was still very proud of myself though. The challenge, for me, was not about how much stuff I gave up. Rather, I focused on what I gained by taking the challenge: I became more aware of what my passions were and what made me happy.
Today, I am still reducing the amount of items I own. I admit, I am still going to keep things like my Pokemon games. It could be argued that they are melting my brain away and wasting precious hours of my life. But damn, I enjoy leveling up my Jolteon and destroying gym leaders after a long day of classes.
After all, the point of living a more simple life is not to purge all the enjoyment out of your life, but to have the time, money, and mental space to devote yourself to what really matters and makes you happy.
~AM
No comments:
Post a Comment