JUST STUFF
Sunday, January 3, 2021 - daily column #6626
I love what lasts.
Yet very little does.
Things wear out.
We tire, grow bored of pants, furniture, occupations, locations, houses, and cars.
We discard old, replace deteriorated, and leave many ‘once treasured’ things behind, forgotten in time.
Not because they were worthless, but they no longer mattered. pack
When we were young, possessionless – any couch would do when we didn’t have a couch.
Any car suffices when you don’t have a car.
Life overtakes. We manage our affairs (or do they manage us?) until we one day wonder how we accumulated this bundle of circumstances we neither imagined nor designed.
But here we are, apparently happy, decades of conspicuous consumption advanced us where we have too many, too heavy, too difficult to pick or pack.
Once again, happy with a car.
Any car will do, but so will walking.
Happy with a couch – because everybody needs a couch, but any old couch will do unless you don’t have a couch, but there is usually a chair. It not a chair, a floor. Really, there is so little that we actually need – but we live so much for we want, for what we have, but so much of our stuff is just stuff.
Here’s an exercise I think you might enjoy. If you needed to take ten things – only ten – with you, essential for moving forward in life, or just one year, what would you take if you must leave everything else behind?
I imagine some people would take ten precious photos.
Some would take ten outfits.
Some would take $10.
Some would take ten phone numbers.
What would your ten be?
What would you need to sustain yourself, to survive, to start again?
Obviously, this is a relaxed theoretical exercise instead of the situation for someone leaving a burning house, knowing they have only moments to grab a few treasures before all else is destroyed.
I would take my treasure file, thumb-drive writing backup, laptop, bank card, one pan, one plate, one fork, one spatula, my cook’s knife, my BOOS board, and one photo album.
I know, that’s 11 – but I love that photo album.
It’s my only essential on that list.
The rest can be replaced in one shopping trip or in an hour online, and one trip to the passport office.
I was having this conversation with someone recently who cautioned that losing computers and backup drives would cause me to lose my archived writing and so much work data. That made me wince, but it’s nothing compared to that photo album. I can always write new pieces, buy new things or re-build a database, but treasured memories cannot be recreated.
Was that fun?
Seriously, I find that mental/emotional gymnastics exercise valuable. Now, try this exercise – as a go-forward one for 2021. If you could only do 10 things this year and nothing else, what would those be?
Everything else must be left behind, discarded, and forgotten.
OK, now that you have your list of ten, cut it down.
Make it only five.
Then cut to three.
Now, to one.
Now you’re ready – you’ve got one priority in need of complete focus.
Keep the remaining lingering nine; they matter too. But don’t touch those until you’ve got that first one completed.
Reader feedback:
Thank you Mark, for your encouragement on health matters. I read your e-mails to keep me on track. Making progress…. MK, Calgary, AB
Happy New Year Mark. May 2021 bring you Health, Prosperity and Happiness. My Hope for 2021 is for all Mankind not to have to Suffer any further, that Renewed Health bestows Everyone, that People become more Caring and Compassionate towards one another. That we all take the time to be Kind, to be Helpful to ones in Need and to be the Best we can be. Happy New Year Everyone!, MJ, Calgary, AB
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