Stuff I Haven’t Worn in Well Over a Year. It’s Gone Now.
I‘ve always believed that less is more. It’s a worldview that informs a lot of what I do. In music, fewer notes almost always works better for me than lots of notes. In writing, concise is better than verbose. In web design, white space is better than gratuitous design elements. But here’s the thing – and I’ll use music as the analogy. To say what you want to say in fewer rather than more notes, each note must mean more. Each note has to have emotion, has to be expressive, has to breathe, has to let the listener fill in the blanks and use their imagination. B.B. King is a master at this. Every note he plays tells a story. I can’t explain it. It just is. And those whom he has influenced – Eric Clapton comes to mind – have that same quality. Don’t get me wrong. Clapton can rip off a blizzard of notes when he wants to. The point is he doesn’t have to.
Same Goes for Stuff
So when I came across this wonderful blog post by Julien Smith about stuff, I had an epiphany. I have too much stuff. Somewhere along the line I heard that if you have clothes in your closet that you don’t wear for an entire year, you don’t need them. So, like a man possessed, I threw open my closet door, identified the stuff I hadn’t worn in years, threw it in a big pile on my office floor, gathered it up and brought it to the nearest Goodwill box. Ahh! What a relief. And as an added bonus, Julien’s post contained a link to a fascinating video by Graham Hill, the founder of Life Edited, a site dedicated to the proposition that we can all live a very happy, fulfilling life while leaving a very small footprint. Hill puts his money where his mouth is. Literally. He lives in a tiny apartment in Manhattan that can somehow seat ten people around a dining room table, sleep two guests comfortably in their own beds and a whole lot more. You’ll have to watch the video to see how he does it.
More About Stuff
All this attention on stuff got me thinking about the classic George Carlin bit about….well it’s about stuff. How much we have, how much we want, how we protect it, how we build our lives around it, how it runs our lives. This clip is 26 years old but like all great comedy, still very relevant. Take a break from sorting through your stuff and watch this. You will laugh. A lot. I promise.
And Now Back to You
Have you ever thought about how much stuff you have? Do you ever wonder if you need it all? What do you do with it? Do you still have unopened boxes you’ve carried around through several moves? Do you tend to get rid of stuff every now and then? I’d love to hear from you on this one. Talk to me?
We just found a box of stuff in our garage that has been there for 12 years untouched by anyone except the mice who had made it their home and in so doing rendered everything in it unusable by us.
Ha! Now that's funny. Well you can't get rid of the box now – unless your conscience can stand making a family of mice homeless.
I have lots of "stuff." It's a real problem for me!! Every month or so I convince myself that I'm going to go through my "stuff" and rid my closets (don't even talk about my basement and attic) of "stuff." I am sincere in my efforts. I believe that I will actually rid my closets of clothes and shoes no longer used or worn by me. Something stops me every time. I think about this a great deal. Am I unwilling to "move on?" Is it difficult for me to accept that I am no longer a size 14 or a size 8? Does each item come with an attachment to a time and place that I hold dear and have difficulty leaving? It's a problem!! I think if I had an actual time frame it might be easier. Here's what I know: Getting rid of "stuff" is leaving a part of yourself behind, and even if we no longer need that part, it's a loss!! It's hard to do! Your post makes me think about trying again, only trying harder!! Thanks for giving me the motivation to try again!!