Day 3 - Choosing what I want over what I don't want

“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
- Christopher Columbus

It probably wasn’t the greatest idea to start this mission on a weekend, as Saturdays and Sundays seem to be inherently more “lazy” days. But who doesn’t like a challenge, right? And all things considered I’m actually not doing so badly at this point.

Yesterday I spent a little more time on the internet than I wanted to, but I was doing some other things at the same time so it was still somewhat productive. Today I slept in a lot later than I had planned, but that’s fine, it’s Sunday, I can deal with having one day like that a week and it just means I need to keep the rest of my day productive (at least until the Steelers game). 

When it comes to mistakes those aren’t major ones, especially considering they’re the kind of things that are going to become a lot easier once I strip away the clutter in the rest of my life and everything becomes more focused. Speaking of clutter, on to the good I did yesterday.  

I started my purging. The overarching theme of this life change is choosing what I want over what I don’t want. In that case there is no better place to start than my “stuff”. I’ve tried this before, going through my closet and getting rid of old clothes, clearing out drawers; and I’ve done okay. But for some reason I have a really strong material possession instinct. Even though it feels good to get rid of stuff, I can just never seem to make the decision to give up on much of it. I also have my weaknesses, like my DVD’s and books which I collect like a pack rat.

So yesterday I started going through all my “stuff” and I did so with a much tougher attitude, if I didn’t love it, or have a pressing need for it, I tossed it aside. And I was proud of myself. But as I wrote this today I realized I still wasn’t doing enough.

I made this change knowing it would be drastic, because that’s what I needed. And just getting rid of more than I used to get rid of isn’t drastic enough to force change. If I really want to make my life different I’m going to have to challenge myself. It’s only when we push ourselves to our limits that we learn who we truly are.

Half.

That’s what I decided today I’m going to get rid of. Half the stuff I own.

It’s definitely going to be a challenge. But you know what? I know I can do it. And I get the feeling as I force myself to get rid of at least half, I’m probably going to end up getting rid of much, much more. That's the way it works. Sometimes once you get that ball rolling it grows so big you can't stop it.

I can already see the shore shrinking behind me.