The Enlightened Approach
One day you wake up, look around and start wondering – why do I need all this stuff? The idea festers around for awhile and then you might take a few loads of stuff to the consignment store. As you get rid of stuff, whether it’s physical or mental, it makes room for other things. It creates opportunities to grow and gives you time and energy that may have been missing before. At the risk of drifting into woo woo land, it’s one of those things that is true that is really difficult to convince people of without some sort of life changing event.
What Usually Happens
Fire is the great eraser of stuff. It’s violent, dramatic and almost unstoppable. Tornado’s are right up there as well. Losing a job can be less visible to the outside world, but can be more painful as you sell your stuff to survive. It’s hard to be mad at mother nature, but other circumstances can inject a lot of anger and stress.
This traumatic event, whatever flavor you may visit your door, will invariably change your life. Control is taken from you and suddenly you are separated from your STUFF. Sometimes it is destroyed, and sometimes it is in storage. In either case, it’s the universe’s way of saying “you probably don’t need it – and if you don’t believe me – try living without it for awhile”. Occasionally people curl up into a fetal position and don’t recover from the experience. But most bounce back and realize they can survive, and actually flourish without the bulk of their stuff. It would be nice if you didn’t have to go through the pain, but we don’t grow unless there is some adversity.
My Reality
Earlier this year a roofing job went wrong in the middle of a storm. The next 3 hours had rain water pouring through the walls and ceiling through most of my house. So after a couple month fighting with the insurance companies and 3 dehumidifiers running most of the time, the moisture levels still hadn’t gone down and the walls, ceilings and floors needed to go.
You really don’t realize how much stuff you have until you have to move. Being that we raise dogs, a hotel for a few months was really not an option. Enter the trailer! Perhaps one of the most frightening things you want to see coming down your driveway. I’m sure if you are surviving a fire it’s probably a Godsend, but I have had an aversion to campers since I was a kid so this was one step above a vision from hell for me.
||||| ||||| ||||| |||||
We’ve just reached our first month inside the trailer. It’s not exactly a Turkish prison but I am getting a little claustrophobic. On a positive note, it’s an exercise in minimalism. We are surviving semi comfortably with about 1% of our belongings. I’m also getting a lot done. Physical and mental clutter both will eventually stifle you.
Insulation started yesterday and it looks like another 6 weeks before we will be back in the house. We are picking out paint and flooring and the usual stuff. And we are also planning what we are going to get rid of when we move back in. Until you can see what you don’t need, it’s hard to make the logic leap that you don’t need it. Our lives our often filled with decades of clutter that is actually holding us back. Forced minimalism is a painful way to reach that recognition. Take a moment to inventory what you have and what you need. Get rid of at least part of the difference. You will find that it makes room for things that are actually important.
