a few months ago as i was driving down the coast toward north carolina, i was thinking about my journey into minimalism. just before heading off i had done another big purge of things, & was feeling pretty good about it all. one day i was dropping off a car full of donations at my local dumptique when i came across what is now my favorite sweater. & in that moment, it hit me: what if i got rid of all my stuff, & just saw what came into my life organically? i am, after all, a powerful manifestor & believer in abundance. i was curiously enthralled with the concept.
then as i sometimes do, i got what i consider a calling, when this little voice in my head literally delivers a message that i hear in specific words. “give away everything you have except what has been given to you.”
what?
that’s absurd, i thought. how would i even live?
but as often happens when i get a calling that i know will ultimately be/become true in my life, it hit me in the gut. hard. i almost had to pull over.
shit.
i tried to push it out of my mind but deep down knew this was going to become a part of my life.
& so began the most intense & most recent journey into minimalism i’ve experienced to date.
it began as an idea, & like most good ideas this one needed some time to ferment. okay, deep breathes. of all the things i use regularly & rely on, what would i be able to keep?
well, my favorite sweater for one, my frye boots, a nice little black dress that i could dress up or down, oh wow, even my mattress, & a couple of my favorite shirts. okay, i wasn’t doing so bad. i couple things were grey area, a table i built from wood i found on the beach but bought table legs for at ikea…hmm. but shit, what about my health? well, i would be able to keep my orthotics, my custom orthotics sandals (thankfully my “second dad” & former boss is a podiatrist, these are truly crucial to my body’s health & well-being) as well as my favorite tinctures & digestive bitters, & the couple natural pain relief creams i use.
wow, i was really beginning to feel blessed, & recognize all the love & care that pours into my life. i could pretty much survive off the generosity of my friends & family.
& that was exactly the point. everything i actually really truly needed had been given to me, & so had a lot of things that were luxurious items. hand me down electronics (thanks dad), fancy clothes (shoutout to my dear friend shay), cute decorations made by or gifted to me from friends. my initial visions of a threadbare wardrobe & sparsely decorated walls were quickly fading as i began recognizing all the abundance i have been given throughout my life.
there were, of course, a few logistical things i couldn’t avoid—my toothbrush & toothpaste for one, the running clothes i’ve bought, the backpack i still needed to purchase for my carry-on-only round the world trip coming up. so i decided to lay down some ground rules & categories first, rather than finding excuses to keep certain purchased items as i came across them. my list reflects my lifestyle & priorities well.
things related to hygiene & health
things that keep me warm, safe, active, and/or outside
things related to art, music, & education
things that allow me to live a more sustainable & waste-free life
things related to my animals & barn
things made by friends or local craftspeople i want to support
things i need for work
in addition to only keeping items that fit into these categories, i decided that i was also instituting a buying ban, with only the same exceptions applying. my intention is to continue with this buying ban for the full year of 2018. i will similarly be cautious about whatever free items i accept into my life.
as i continued to run through a mental inventory of my belongings (it helped tremendously that i had just laid hands on literally every item i owned) i realized they were either gifts/came into my life for free, or that they fell into one of these categories.
now i was feeling pretty confident but also mildly terrifying. shit. this was actually starting to shape up into something reasonable & feasible. i knew i would ultimately end up jumping down the rabbit hole.
beginning my travels really helped push me over the edge, as living out of a 50L backpack really puts things into perspective. compounding this was the fact that in my first month of travel, throughout bits of africa & europe, i still hadn’t even touched every item i brought.
i was gifted the unique opportunity of going home briefly before continuing around the world, & i knew i had to seize my excitement, enthusiasm, & energy. some bad weather left me housebound for a few days & i jumped in—relentlessly.
having a set criteria helped me tremendously. no more wondering, making excuses, or waffling over decisions. if it wasn’t free & didn’t fit a category, it was gone. plain & simple.
the funniest part was that there were occasional items that i would pick up & feel my heart drop at the thought of giving them away. then i would take moment, & remember it was a gift, or realize it fit into one of my pre-designated categories. this was actually working, & it was leaving me with only objects that i loved, used, & were important to me.
perhaps the best part was rehoming some of the items, really lovely things that i intentionally sent to specific people. those packages are now en route, with small gifts arriving into the lives of people i love. i found the joy of picking exactly the right person for some of my belongings even more exhilarating than the thought of keeping them. the giving was addictive, & i felt gratitude & abundance pouring over me to even be in a position to give away so much.
when i hopped back on a plane to singapore, my pack was even lighter than when i had left for morocco, & so were the storage bins i was leaving behind at home. when i return home this spring & move into my shed, the process will be a breeze. & after living a fully, safe, content, & joyful life out of a small backpack with minimal possessions for so long i will not be coming home to piles of unnecessary crap that would only energetically & physically weigh me down.
moving no longer overwhelms me, & my things don’t control what choices i make. now the only logistics that i grapple with if considering a long distance transplant center around my animals, not my stuff.
the simpler my material life becomes, the fuller my mental, emotional, & spiritual one becomes. i am excited to continue to grow into this ever opening & unfolding space, as i continue to explore myself, & my relationships with money, the material world, my lifestyle, & how i impact my environment.
Leave a Reply