84 Things
Have little and you will gain. Have much and you will be confused. – Tao Teh Ching by Lao Tzu
If anyone knows me, they know I’m a minimalist. I haven’t always been this way, however. Simplifying my life only really begun around 2008, whereby I started selling my used books, college textbooks, DVDs, and CDs on Amazon in order to make some money and to clear out my massive collection of these things. From there, it snowballed. I sold all my furniture, donated almost all my clothes except for a few basics, digitized all files that can be stored electronically versus having a paper copy, and pretty much got rid of anything that was useless and not essential to my needs. What was left is what I currently own now, down to 84 things as of today, May 15, 2010:
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It sounds a bit peculiar to actually count each thing a person owns, however, it really is quite fun and helps me to understand the value each thing I own brings. If the item presents no value to me, then I get rid of it. Simple as that. And by “getting rid” of something, I mean I either donate, sell, recycle, give it to someone else, or trash it.
Different stages in your life will warrant different things you need to subsist on. For instance, working in an office job requires me to have a certain set of workplace-appropriate professional business clothes and heels. If I wasn’t working in a corporate office, trust me, I would not have those items around. Same applies if you’re a painter or photographer. You need those tools in order to do work. Therefore, your list of things will change invariably as your life deems it necessary. As I continually evolve and shape my minimalist approach to life, my list will also change and evolve.
Having such few belongings makes moving so much easier. Especially since I’ve just moved closer to work now, saving around 60 miles a day of commute. Three hours a day commuting can really wear a person down. Not to mention cause a seemingly relaxed and happy-go-lucky person to mutter obscenities under her breath and finally curse the world around her, loudly and with lots of anger. This does not bode well with the state of flow I was trying to have.
Traveling? No problem. One little backpack of my essentials and I’m good to go. It was very apparent how minimalist traveling was definitely not the norm when I was trying to get through customs at the London Heathrow Airport last March 2009. The customs security officer stopped me and asked how long I will be staying in the UK.
“10 days,” I replied. He looked at my small Patagonia backpack and looked back at me.
“Is that all you’re bringing?” he asked incredulously.
“Yes. I don’t need anything else,” was my confident response.
“Wow … okay, you’re free to go. Have a nice stay,” responded the officer.
I was free to walk around, not physically and mentally weighed down by my baggage, while the rest of my graduate school classmates had larger-than-me suitcases which weighed 60+ lbs. each. Seeing them drag those around town, I can hear their exasperated complaints of how heavy and cumbersome the luggage was. When I asked what they brought, their responses were more along the lines with what they didn’t bring. Ah, the fruits of this labor is not exactly beneficial.
It’s all about paring down the non-essentials which will leave you with what you actually do need on a daily basis. Now you’re free to simply live and enjoy your life.
Welcome to Castles in the Air, where we're changing the way we think and view the world through minimalism.
