Over the last two weeks I spent packing up my place. I went through and separated all my stuff and all the stuff going to my ex’s.
What an incredibly frustrating experience in dealing with these movers. Lack of information, erroneous information, missing information…unbelievable.
Thankfully the move itself went really well. The moving guys themselves were top notch and an entire 18 wheeler was filled to the brim with…. STUFF.
That’s what it all is…STUFF.
Too much stuff in my book.
Ever since I left Yahoo!, I’ve been on a frustration and clutter reduction kick. Remove all barriers to me moving forward in my life. Take away all time consuming meaningless tasks like writing checks to pay bills and stuffing envelopes. What a waste of my time.
Moving was a huge clutter reduction effort. Why did I need all this stuff? Was it to make happier? Did I need all this stuff? I didn’t even recognize half of it. Having so much stuff is just not in the cards anymore. It just makes my life more complex. I don’t need that. I want the simple life.
I don’t need to have so much stuff. Because in the end, it’s all just stuff. Physicalities. Meaningless. So I practiced LETTING GO. I don’t want or need to be attached to this STUFF. Yes there is an attachment factor to anything we buy or own but most of it really just isn’t necessary. When was I going to reread my old Wired magazines? Was I ever going to research for that Yahoo! book I was going to write? NEVER. It’s just paper taking up valuable space in my garage and in my psyche. Very bad on both accounts.
What a relief to LET GO. I had a great time watching the movers just take away all this furniture. I didn’t need to fight to keep it; it was not important. It is even UNHEALTHY.
How did we all ever think that having bigger and more things would be the way to go?
I think back to how our parents taught us. When you buy your next home, it should be BIGGER. And the next house after that. EVEN BIGGER. And for what? More opportunities to clutter up our lives until our limited time and resources cannot support so much space. It just encourages junk to take up that square footage.
Next stop – reduction of SPACE. I will live in my place for a while, but I am also enjoying living in a two bedroom apartment in LA, and also very soon a studio condo in NYC. It will force me to be brutal in throwing out things. I love it.
Clutter reduction = frustration reduction = happy dshen.
CLARIFICATION
I love it when I write about or tell people that I’m spending time here or there. But, inevitably things get mixed up and people think I’ve blown out of the Bay Area permanently.
Just to set the record straight – I am living part time in Cupertino, part time in LA, and part time in NYC. I have not disappeared from the Bay Area and will not for a long time, I suspect….