A lot of people have said to me that they would find it very difficult to dispose of the majority of their possessions, as Anne and I are doing in preparation for our upcoming road trip adventure...
In actual fact I found that thinking about doing it was what seemed to cause the most problems... As with so many things in life, the more I thought about doing it the more I kept coming up with lots of reasons why I shouldn't do it....
In reality none of the reasons actually held water.... It was just my mind trying to keep me in my comfort zone....
Whenever I have contemplated any idea in the past...such as an idea for a long distance cycle trip like the Ten Countries in Ten Days Ride, you can always come up with lots of reasons not to do it...experience has taught me that if we listen to the inner negative voice too often, we would never achieve anything.....easier to ignore the voice and just get on with the plans....
Back in September last year my book collection consisted of many hundreds of books...Throughout my life I don't think that I have ever disposed of a book...either by selling it or giving it to charity or by any other means....I've just kept it....
Many of these books I had only read the once but still held on to them...
It didn't make sense...economic or otherwise... to put them into storage when we head off on our trip so they really had to go.....
Since October I have been giving my books away and have now managed to reduce my entire collection to just over a small box full and even some of these will go in the next few weeks..
As well as my books, many other things have been disposed of.... how about payslips and bank accounts going back over thirty years... why did I ever keep these things for so long ?
Photographs....cameras....ornaments...over 600 music cassettes and 300 music CDs as well as many DVDs and Videos have also now been disposed of and I have to say it does feel good.....
The more that goes the better I feel...it's almost like breaking free from a life that has been very comfortable but with which we have become more and more bored.....
Time for a change and the excitement is building..........
In actual fact I found that thinking about doing it was what seemed to cause the most problems... As with so many things in life, the more I thought about doing it the more I kept coming up with lots of reasons why I shouldn't do it....
In reality none of the reasons actually held water.... It was just my mind trying to keep me in my comfort zone....
Whenever I have contemplated any idea in the past...such as an idea for a long distance cycle trip like the Ten Countries in Ten Days Ride, you can always come up with lots of reasons not to do it...experience has taught me that if we listen to the inner negative voice too often, we would never achieve anything.....easier to ignore the voice and just get on with the plans....
Back in September last year my book collection consisted of many hundreds of books...Throughout my life I don't think that I have ever disposed of a book...either by selling it or giving it to charity or by any other means....I've just kept it....
Many of these books I had only read the once but still held on to them...
It didn't make sense...economic or otherwise... to put them into storage when we head off on our trip so they really had to go.....
Since October I have been giving my books away and have now managed to reduce my entire collection to just over a small box full and even some of these will go in the next few weeks..
 |
| A lifetime of books reduced to just over a box full.. |
Photographs....cameras....ornaments...over 600 music cassettes and 300 music CDs as well as many DVDs and Videos have also now been disposed of and I have to say it does feel good.....
The more that goes the better I feel...it's almost like breaking free from a life that has been very comfortable but with which we have become more and more bored.....
Time for a change and the excitement is building..........
 |
| A few more items ready for the next visit to the tip.... |
13 comments:
Creating freedom from stuff. Fantastic. And rare too.
I didn't really realise until after my Dad passed away how simply he had lived his life - he borrowed books from the library, was deaf so didn't listen to music, he had a set of work clothes, a set of casual clothes & a set of nice clothes, he washed his smalls daily in the sink, drying them overnight and rotating between a few pairs. He had a camera, watch & binoculars from the 60s and that was pretty much all.
I'd always been brought up knowing that contentment is not in things you posses, but the experiences of life and now I know where I picked that up from.
Your post is truly an inspiration!
Good for you Trevor. The books would be one of the most difficult to dispose of for me. Not even sure how I would go about whittling the library down to size.
It would be interesting to hear what you actually kept, and why? A sort of Desert Island Stuff of Life
Ironically, you can now put all those books onto a single iPad if you get one with a bit of extra memory. If you are in a place with wifi, you can access thousands more - all for free. Things have changed much since we were children.
*Georgie Ormrod*
I do think that the simpler we keep things the more content we can be...
Three sets of clothes, 'Work/Casual/Best must have made choice a simple thing for your Father. Lot's of people in this world manage with even less.......
*Michael Wagner*
Steve A makes a good point regarding books in this modern world, which certainly helps in the whittling process.....
*Peter Roberts*
That's a good idea for a future post Peter... I will certainly do a 'Desert Island Stuff of Life'
post soon....
*Steve A*
Your right Steve... making the decision to dispose of my books was made easier by the realization of how easy it is these days to access books on the i-net.
These days if I want to research a subject I do it on the net..years ago I would have checked it out in a book...
Anne and I will have a Tablet and a Notebook computer as well as a couple of smart phones with us.... As you say, things have changed a lot since we were youngsters.....
I also wanted to chime in that your post is a helpful push for me to dispose of stuff, too. As you mention, thinking about it seems to be the catch point, while actually doing it is simple, and freeing. Thanks! And best wishes for your new adventure.
*John Romeo Alpha*
Thanks John...Hope you manage to dispose of some stuff.....
Trevor, it's a bother getting the details of a smaller footprint in life sorted out. But once you get there, it's hard to imagine living any other way! Enjoy. (It took us a couple of tries, but we finally got it right. It's a great way to live.)
something I really need to do, thanks for posting.
*Marsha*
Thanks for the reassurance Marsha.....
*mrbill*
Hope you get it sorted.....
Bravo, Trevor!
On to freedom from too much material stuff! Hooray!!
Peace :)
Hats off to you Trevor for this.
I can associate with too much here and it's good for you to additionally challenge my thinking.
2015 is my year of declutter but due to a few reasons, I haven't really started yet. No doubt my plan was maybe just to scratch the surface.
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