Too Much Stuff
How much stuff do we need to live? My mother used to prod me into considering a new purchase by telling me to ask myself whether or not the something in my hand was something I really needed to live, or did I just want it? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put stuff back on the shelf and left it for another person to grab up. Only on the rarest of occasions, maybe less than five, did I ever think I should have purchased it when I had the chance.
George Carlin had a great bit about “Stuff” and the storage of it, the use of it, and why we simply wanted more and more all the time. Europeans, for the most part, are not like this. I lived over in Italy for three years and although they have an unlimited supply of some really good stuff, they don’t own a lot of really good stuff. Don’t get me wrong, the “stuff” they have is really nice; they just don’t have a lot of stuff stuffed into closets the way most Americans do.
Our stuff carries enormous responsbility. We have to clean it, store it, maybe even show it off if it’s really nice. But we only have so much space and that was one of Carlin’s tenants. Soon we’ll all need bigger houses because our stuff has outgrown our house. This is where I can appreciate a good garage sale. I like going to other people’s homes who have decided to sell their stuff. Heck, I’ve even offered to trade them some of their stuff for some of mine. Since that plays out to an even swap I don’t feel so bad about bringing more stuff into my house. Very soon, my boyfriend and I will merge our stuff and there will be even more stuff that has to be stuffed somewhere! I’m not looking forward to the sorting, but I am looking forward to his stuff living with mine.
Stuff brings stress. The more clutter of stuff you have around, the less your eye can look up and see ‘white space,’ and that is something your mind needs to relax. Less stuff to look at, less stuff to be responsible for, less stuff to replace if it breaks. Our parents and their parents lived just fine with less stuff, and our grandparents would be amazed at how much stuff we all think we need in order to exist on this planet. Two car families were unheard of in my grandparents’ day. There were no cell phones so people could track us down wherever we were, no blogs so families could read what we’ve been up to (they had to write actual letters and use postage stamps). There were no DVRs. If you wanted to watch a show you had to be in front of the television when the show came on or risk missing it. How uncool would you be if you didn’t know what happened on Desperate Housewives this week?
Technology
Technology is a wonderful invention, and unfortunately its invention has come with a price — added stress. Lately I have been leaving my cell phone at home when I’ve gone on short runs to my daughter’s school or the local grocery store. There are pay phones around…. somewhere… should I get stranded within a three mile radius of my home. Heck, I could walk to my home if I needed to, in order to use a phone. The sense of freedom that my cell-phone-free times has given me has made me giddy. Once I even ventured as far away as 8 miles and nothing bad happened. When I returned home and took that cell phone into my hand to check to see who had called me, I found that the world had gone on just as before and didn’t notice that for a moment, I had stepped off.
This past weekend, I strayed as far as 35 miles and an entire evening without my cell phone. My boyfriend had his. I used it once, and the world survived. All my relatives were still living at evening’s end, and my nerves remained intact. Oh sure, I missed a few emails, but I didn’t need to read them until the next day or even the day after. I had unplugged and lived to tell about it.
Give it a whirl and let me know how it goes for you and what you felt.
Blessings
