We are enjoying our first week in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is Thursday morning, and already I have put in a week’s worth of work into business things - and still had time to take daily walks, go grocery shopping, eat out with friends, organize our stuff into usable collections for daily access, and grab a movie last night. Where did all of this “extra time” come from? Then I found out in a LinkedIn post I just scrolled past, that said -
Let me explain.
Things not only take up space - but they also require your time. Whether it is maintenance, cleaning, rearranging, considering… things require something from you.
The fewer things, the fewer distractions.
When we arrived late Sunday night to Knoxville, we brought our 2 suitcases that we lived out of for the past month-and-a-half of travel to Europe, Denver, Texas, Utah, North Carolina and Indianapolis - before landing officially at our first month long stay in Tennessee. We also brought the assorted things that filled the cab of our car, that we felt were meaningful, useful, needful. They fit in less than a dozen, cleanly-labeled, clear boxes with lids based on thoughtful categories that Trish had decided.
The funny thing, was loading the car our final morning in North Carolina at Fletcher’s house - we felt a bit like even with that, there was too much stuff. We had managed to see so much with so little in possession while hopping around to see our people - that adding these other things back in - was an encumbrance.
America is a consumeristic nation. We love our things, and want for the latest, greatest, newest. But I stepped back a quite a bit from that mindset years ago, and have become even more stoic-like minimalist in the adventure ahead. I think as we continue to filter thru our things in the months ahead, we will find more of the stuff we found meaningful to load up, to be just stuff to carry. Stuff to load and unload from the car with less measurable value, than the emotional weight that had us put it there to begin with.
The less stuff, the fewer distractions. The fewer things that can consume your time, your thoughts, your energy.
The subhead above, I asked -
Quick... what is the most valuable thing you possess?
If you did not have it, how would it change your life?
In my adult life, I experienced three different catastrophes. A house-fire in 2007 due to a faulty candle-in-a-glass that burst, setting my home-office on fire, and rapidly spreading thru the rest of the 1940s home with heart-pine rafters in downtown Southern Pines. Another fire in 2015 at a new home I designed, where the HVAC guys wrongly installed the chimney flue of a wood-burning fireplace. A third incident of my prior spouse of 20+ years leaving and hiring a moving company to take everything while I was at a Spartan Race with my 3 oldest sons.
Each stripped back the things that filled my life. Things.
As Trish and I move thru life going forward - now married 5 years, we are trying to be even more mindful of the things. Definitely some things are needful, some things are helpful, and some things offer a measure of convenience, comfort and care. But we are being more intentional than ever around things, because when you have to put your hands on the things that will travel with you multiple times in a month (sometimes loading and unloading, sometimes using) you pay attention with a fresh perspective.
As to the most valuable (financial worth) thing that I have with me… it would currently be my Macbook. That is wild, because it was one of many such devices and computers when home was set and established. With us on the road, it has shifted. Most of the things we find needful or useful - we could easily replace in a few hours. Even the laptop. Might be inconvenient to lose some of the files saved on it… but I would be fine. And you know what - I like that.
I like the sparsity, because LIFE (the application of it in real time), is not about things. And having fewer things to move around, work around, think about, interact with… is giving me more of something I believe to be far more valuable. Something I can’t replace, or buy more of… and that is time.
I am embracing (holding onto) less things, so I can enjoy more. What about you?
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