Making a Mark- But Not Too Big
Monday, November 03, 2014
I don't know about you, but I think a lot about the mark I'm leaving on the world. I mean, I want to be remembered and make a difference. I want to make an impact on the people (and the world in general!) around me.
But not too big.
I think I'm also starting to see that simply making a mark on the world isn't good enough. Because there's more than one kind of mark you can leave, and they're certainly not all what I want...
What mark is this? You may have guessed already. I'm talking, of course about my footprint. I'm talking about all of the things I would leave behind. And I'm now realizing that if I were to die tomorrow I would be leaving behind a lot of stuff.
And I've decided that this is a problem.
I talked about this self-safe issue in a recent blog post (which you can read here!), and it encouraged me to look seriously at how I was going to weed out the things I don't really need.
This led me to doing some serious online research, where I found The Packing Party.
I first heard about The Packing Party through a very interesting blog called The Minimalists, and I was immediately drawn in by how drastic it was.
Basically, you take a day (or two) to pack up all of your belongs as though you had to move. Over the next week or so, you unpack things only as you use them. After your set time, you are then faced with the reality of exactly how much of your stuff you actually us e.You go through the unpacked (aka unused!) boxes and get rid of most of it.
Yes, it's crazy. Yes, it's a lot of work. Yes, it's drastic.
But that's what I liked about it.
So that's what I've been doing, today- packing. We started at about noon, and as of 6 pm this evening, we're still not done. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm actually going to get everything packed today. When we do finish, possibly tomorrow or the day after, I'll be sharing some "before & after" photos to give you a good idea of what's happened.
Seeing everything out of the cabinets and in boxes around the room is really hitting home the fact of just how much stuff I have. Until recently, I had never thought of myself as having a lot of stuff at all. Now I can definitely see that my idea of "too much" was a bit skewed, and I could benefit from a good kick in the pants.
...
So... what do you think? Is this crazy? Would you consider doing this or something like it? I always love to hear what you have to say, so be sure to leave your thoughts below in the comment section or over at my Facebook page!
But not too big.
I think I'm also starting to see that simply making a mark on the world isn't good enough. Because there's more than one kind of mark you can leave, and they're certainly not all what I want...
What mark is this? You may have guessed already. I'm talking, of course about my footprint. I'm talking about all of the things I would leave behind. And I'm now realizing that if I were to die tomorrow I would be leaving behind a lot of stuff.
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And I've decided that this is a problem.
I talked about this self-safe issue in a recent blog post (which you can read here!), and it encouraged me to look seriously at how I was going to weed out the things I don't really need.
This led me to doing some serious online research, where I found The Packing Party.
I first heard about The Packing Party through a very interesting blog called The Minimalists, and I was immediately drawn in by how drastic it was.
Basically, you take a day (or two) to pack up all of your belongs as though you had to move. Over the next week or so, you unpack things only as you use them. After your set time, you are then faced with the reality of exactly how much of your stuff you actually us e.You go through the unpacked (aka unused!) boxes and get rid of most of it.
Yes, it's crazy. Yes, it's a lot of work. Yes, it's drastic.
But that's what I liked about it.
So that's what I've been doing, today- packing. We started at about noon, and as of 6 pm this evening, we're still not done. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm actually going to get everything packed today. When we do finish, possibly tomorrow or the day after, I'll be sharing some "before & after" photos to give you a good idea of what's happened.
Seeing everything out of the cabinets and in boxes around the room is really hitting home the fact of just how much stuff I have. Until recently, I had never thought of myself as having a lot of stuff at all. Now I can definitely see that my idea of "too much" was a bit skewed, and I could benefit from a good kick in the pants.
...
So... what do you think? Is this crazy? Would you consider doing this or something like it? I always love to hear what you have to say, so be sure to leave your thoughts below in the comment section or over at my Facebook page!
5 comments
That sounds like a great idea! I will be interested to see how this goes for you!
ReplyDeleteI have never taken on a project like that, but we have moved 6 times over the last 12 years, so that has helped me to give or throw away a lot of stuff away regularly so that I don't have to move it.
Thank you! I am going to try to keep you all updated on my progress, but the project itself has really taken a lot out of me, so I don't know if I'll actually post anything sooner than Monday, after all...
DeleteWhat an eye opener that would be, I have a lot of stuff too, can't wait to follow along with the rest of your journey. :)
ReplyDeleteIt definitely has been for me. Thank you for the sweet comment!
DeleteMy house is 997 sq. ft. I don't have anything in my outside storage room, except a shovel and broom. My one car garage is virtually empty, except for a closet door I took off the closet in guest bedroom. It took up too much space. I have more than I need. Could do without some if the stuff. I like living in a small space, lovingly calle the Box. Small is better for me
ReplyDelete