Tuesday, September 28, 2010

I'm so sick of too much "stuff"! Are you?

I walk into my closet and it is bursting with clothes as new as a month-old and as old as 20 years-old. I open a kitchen cabinet and it is stuffed with half-eaten boxes of crackers or cookies whose expiration date I can't even guess. I venture into my garage and just want to cry at the insane array of furniture and crap just carried over from all of our moves.

I AM SO SICK OF LIVING WITH TOO MUCH STUFF!!!

My overhwelm doesn't end with objects. Sometimes, I eat more than my body needs. I drink more than my brain prefers. I spend more than my budget allows. I fight more than my heart desires.

Too much, too much, too much. This seems to be the disease of our times, a disease generated by the deep fear from past generations that we won't have enough. Underneath my over-eating, my over-spending, and my over-anything is the unconscious terror that I will run out of stuff that I (falsely) think makes me feel good.

But it doesn't!!! As I sit here, surveying my life, it becomes increasingly clear to me that this lifestyle has long ago stopped making me feel good. On the contrary, it has obscured what is truly important, living simply, living kindly, living peacefully. I want to stop working 60 hours a week just to pay the mortgage. I want to stop having more clothes than I'll ever need or eat more food than can ever nourish me. I want to spend time with my family, my friends, and myself.

As I close, I do want to express gratitude for the fact that I am lucky enough to have "too much". It is hard not to feel shame when so much of the world doesn't have enough. I can only hope that my choosing to live more simply will in some way help balance out some of this inequality. It is truly my deepest wish.

I'd love to know where you resonate with my sentiments!

Warmly,
Isabelle
303-817-6912

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