A Life Less Complicated: Things That Made Me Happy This Week

Crossing stuff off of the To Do List
Skyping with my brother in Iraq
Caprese with balsamic and our own basil
Discovering the blog Man vs Debt
Booking our San Diego trip
Lunch with Wendie
Contributing to a successful presentation at work
Receiving my wedding dress
Spending time getting to know a new friend a little better
Holding new friend’s baby
Seeing Bob hold new friend’s baby
Compliments on my new hair, when I was feeling unsure about it (compliment came from a friend who says nothing if she has nothing nice to say so I know she really did like it!)
Finally catching up with a very busy friend in CT
The really good laugh I shared with Bob at lunch yesterday

So... this is an interesting list. Here’s what I see when I look at it: I’m most happy when spending time with people I love and accomplishing tasks. Huh.

A few words about the blog Man vs Debt...

I’m so fascinated by this family’s decision to just get rid of everything they own and move to another country. This was a couple that was in serious debt. They made a decision to get out of it, save money, sell everything except what they could fit into backpacks, and move to Australia with their baby. And they did! Along the way, they changed the destination to New Zealand, but they totally did it.

I have increasingly felt this desire to be less tethered by “stuff”, which is one of the things that has led me to want a less complicated life. When we moved into this house, we put boxes in the basement that we haven’t looked in since. Do we need that stuff? Seriously?

I just had a conversation with my brother about this very subject. He has the travel bug for sure, and wants to see the world. Fortunately for him he has a job where he can do that. Not so fortunately, right now he’s in a war zone. But at age 26, he’s been to several states, Dubai, Spain and of course, Iraq. He doesn’t have much interest in collecting things. I told him that a friend of mine says “own your stuff, don’t let your stuff own you”. He thought it was great... and I realized my friend may have gotten it from somewhere so I Googled it and turns out it’s from the movie Fight Club:

“You buy furniture. You tell yourself this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple of years you’re satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you’ve got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own... now they own you."

Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club (1996)

Now listen, I’m not saying I don’t appreciate new technology or like nice jewelry. In fact, we recently got a new Mac. The idea I think is to really consider your needs. In our case, Bob really does need a good computer for work, and we both obviously blog a lot so we need to be able to do it frustration free. But out of necessity, we used the same crappy laptop for 2 years before we had the money to get this laptop, and when we bought it, we researched to death what the best investment would be for us. I also think technology that helps cut down on things that take up space is really great too... think iPod, Kindle, etc.

I’m also not saying that there isn’t value to having a comfortable home - especially if you have kids. There is a lot to be said for stability. I think it’s cool when people go “home for the holidays” and sleep in the bedroom they grew up in. Or take their spouse to the ice cream place they used to go to as a kid.

I just think it’s so amazing when people make the decision to be free of stuff and embark on an adventure like Adam and his family did. In my opinion it takes a lot of courage and I really admire them.

So there has to be some sort of “In Between” for people like me, who maybe aren’t ready to make that drastic of a change, but who want to be less “trapped”. I continue to try to find the balance.

“Take a look again

Take a look again

Things you have collected

Well, in the end it all piles up so tall

To one big nothing

One big nothing at all”

~"Seek Up" by The Dave Matthews Band