Where oh where to start?

I am paralyzed. It seems so hard to get started here. Everywhere I look, I am overwhelmed with objects. I never really noticed how much stuff I actually possess. The funny thing is, anyone who knows me and has viewed me in my 'natural surroundings' knows I don't own lots of stuff by today's standards. Still feels like a whole lot of stuff as I find myself looking down the business end of this project.

But this weekend, something is gonna happen. Got to jump in..........

Scared to let go........

Why is it that we, as a species, cling to our possessions?

What have we come to, that we value ourselves in line with what we own?

Bigger houses, bigger cars, better vacations, better TV, newest cellphone....... The list never ends. Problem is that there is always something better, and so we are never satisfied, always looking to buy the next thing that will make us "happy". But really, happiness comes from what you are inside, not what you own. You are born with nothing and go out the same way. Our our death beds, will we all be wishing we had only bought the newest phone, the brightest TV, the bigger house ??

It's hard to let go of that, the fact that our possessions do not define who we are or how "successful" we have become. But I am letting go. I have learned to value myself by what I am, not what I have. It isn't easy though. I have been the person who based my success on what I had, always wanting the newest, best and biggest, but that part of life is mostly over now. It rears it head now and again, the feeling of wanting 'whatever' because what I have isn't good enough, but I can usually talk myself down. Consumerism is an ugly monster.

What I value now are my relationships, both with people and with nature. I value what I have to offer the world, what I can do to make things better. Better for my family, better for my friends and better for the planet. It's not an easy road to walk. Sometimes, I am thought of as a little strange, but that's OK. In this culture, maybe I am. It doesn't make it wrong though, far from it.

But I am scared to let go of my possessions? Yes I am, but I know they don't define me, so on I go.

Rules ......

I have to think about things for a while before starting...... I have been reading the blogs of others who have walked the "go small or go home" route, and have started to think about my rules........ 500 items adds up pretty quick! 

So my rules so far.....

Underwear counts as a collective "1" 

Furniture and any other items I share in the house, are excluded from the 500

Food items are excluded

Other "groups" (that count as a collective 1)

Photographs (I mean old school "in hand" pictures)

Books (I have probably 300) because each one is like a friend

If I can get below 500, using these rules, I will. My aim is to live lightly, 500 is my first, but not ultimate, goal.

Stop thinking and do it........

I stand at the start of what I hope will be an enlightening adventure. Shedding off layers of stuff, stuff that holds "sentimental" value. I have come to believe that the object that I "just can't part with" is only really related to a memory of something that happened in my life. Taking away the object wont take away my memory. Nothing can take that away. I am still in the stages of defining the parameters of this journey, I have to be reasonable and understand that the shared objects we have in the house (furniture and the like) maybe can't count in the 500 objects. I am going to start with objects that I own personally. Once I get started, who knows where the journey will take me. All I know is that, if I need to move my life, it won't be nearly as heavy as it feels now.  As a culture, we are told that our value is linked to what we have. Bigger houses, bigger cars, more things, buy buy buy. There is a problem with that, can we ever feel good enough. Your cell phone may work just fine but there have been 2 new models since you bought yours. We are told "upgrade, upgrade, get the latest," but why ? What is wrong with what we have?

So I vow not to buy anything new unless I NEED it. And hopefully, I will pass hapiness onto others in the form of donating items that could better be used by someone else.

And so it begins..........