Book Smart

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the waste of having lots of “stuff”.  How many of the things in my apartment have I not used in the past week?  The past month?  The past year?  If something is just filling space on a shelf or in a drawer, why am I keeping it?

There are some items whose value does not come solely from use.  Artwork and photos are not “used,” really, but they enhance the viewer’s life by providing beauty and meaning.  Photo albums and yearbooks spend most of their time sitting on a shelf, but justify their existence by storing memories and giving an emotional boost.  Also, whenever I think about getting rid of them I remember exploring records of my parents’ youth, and am reminded that someday I might have children of my own looking at my high school and college pictures (I feel far, far to young to be thinking this way, and posterity is a long, long ways off, but it’s easier to keep the yearbook now than it would be to find another years down the road).  Sometimes objects are kept just because of what they mean to the owner.

Other times, though, we keep things just so that we can have them.  This idea of stuff for stuff’s sake has been bothering me more and more over the past year.  I used to think that owning lots of books would be amazing – having my own personal library to browse in.  Now, though, it seems incredibly selfish.  Not only is it difficult and impractical to pack and move all the books each time I relocate, most of them I will never read again.  And if I don’t, then what will happen to them?  The books would sit on my shelf for the rest of my life, until I died and they were donated to a local library.  Why wait then?  After I’ve read the book, why not send it back out into the world and give it that much more time of utility?  Someone else may discover it and have their lives changed, for all I know.

This goes beyond books on the shelf.  CDs, DVDs, coffee mugs, clothes, shoes, linens, cars, office supplies, beach towels . . . how many pens, pencils, and markers do you have in that desk drawer?  How often to we dedicate time, money, and space to things we don’t need, or could use and then pass on to someone else?  As I’ve recently been trying to eliminate stuff in my life, I’ve found something.  Every item I get rid of makes me feel lighter, freer.  It’s as though one less object has a claim on me, and I’m now free to turn that time and attention to my own pursuits.

Where’s the dead weight in your life?  Is there anything you can eliminate or pass on to someone who will use it?  I’d like to encourage you to try letting go of the things you have and don’t know why, and focus on adding value to your life.