by Lori Deschene
Consider this a sister post to one I wrote in September,
20 Signs You Don’t Need That Thing. It was all about going through your stuff and deciding which items suffocate your space. Hopefully you tossed the Chicken Little bobble head and that spandex and crinoline dress from the 80s.
Now here’s another question: once you get rid of the clutter how do you feel about the rest? Does it shape your identity? Does it consume your energy and thoughts? If this list resonates with you, it likely does…
20. When you go on vacation you ask your mother to check in on your HDTV.
19. If you were offered an all-expense paid trip to Paris but could only bring a carry-on bag, you’d opt for another week of 9–5...and you have one of
these jobs.
18. You wrote a prenup to protect your possessions when you were 15.
17. The word donate draws a tear—and it’s not joy you’re feeling.
16. If you were in a hot air balloon that was going down you’d consider tossing your dog before your purse. (PETA: I didn’t mean it).
15. When Ferris Bueller said Cameron’s dad shined his car with a diaper you thought “brilliant!” and seriously considered potty training your 6-week old baby.
14. Your will includes instructions to bury you with your prized possessions, like your iPhone, all your jewelry, or your troll doll collection.
13. If you were to meditate you’d chant something along the lines of, “Be calm. Be present. Believe you’ll beat Final Fantasy VIII.”
12. If your girlfriend gave you love coupons and a sweater she knitted for your birthday you’d ask, “Were they out of the Etymotic Research headphones for my iPod?”
11. When you imagine Bhutan, which measures its nation’s success in Gross National Happiness you think, “Yeah that might work—if I had a yak and roamed the mountains.”
10. You’re daily to-do list includes the following actions: buy, clean, repair, dust, organize, rearrange, and insure.
9. You consider your friend who drives a ’98 Chevy a caveman.
8. Your elderly mother could really benefit from using your Wii Fit—but you figure she gets enough exercise opening cat food.
7. At 4:00 on Friday you start daydreaming about the quality time you’ll spend with your DVDs over the weekend.
6. Your five-year old daughter says, “In school today we learned you don’t need stuff to make you happy!” You say, “Honey that’s just for poor kids.”
5. Your New Year’s resolutions all involve things you own—organize your iTunes library, fill your wine cellar, get your “Frankie Say Relax” shirt back from your ex.
4. You can’t stay in a hotel unless you bring your Gucci ice cube trays. You feel dirty drinking your Dirty Russian with plain-old-square-shaped ice.
3. You won’t move in with your significant other because the word “consolidate” makes you physically ill.
2. Your friends chose your nickname for you based on your prized possession—Kindle Kendall, Manolo Lola, iPhone Bob. OK, that last one doesn’t work as well but you get the point.
Bhutan ideals don’t translate word-for-word into our American reality. You can’t live a completely thing-free life. (Full disclosure: I’m a recovering shoe addict and I feel something I can only define as love for my flat-screen TV.) But you can prioritize the stuff that really matters above the stuff you own.
posted @ Tuesday, November 11, 2008 10:08 AM