Ordered Chaos A pile of organized miscellany.

What was so awful about my childhood?

Well...nothing! In fact, whenever an in-depth conversation turns to exchanging childhood stories, I'm quick to say that mine was excellent. So why did I throw it away? To be fair, I didn't actually throw away my childhood. I did, though, just finish trashing all of my childhood "artifacts". That includes rock collections, bowling patches, soccer trophies, award certificates, prom pictures, arts & crafts, and countless other things. Things. That's all they are: things.

For most of my adult life I've battled quite an aversion to clutter. This aversion has manifested itself mostly in frustration and occasional house purges or Goodwill trips. But nothing has really fixed it. That's going to change. What I've learned is that those things that "have sentimental value" in fact have no intrinsic value at all, and most of those things lie around for years gathering dust in some box that can no longer be picked up because it has partially disintegrated. That which has value gathers no dust.

Certainly it is no coincidence that for the last year I've been actively studying Buddhism, or that more recently I've become captivated by The Minimalists. And I am certainly not unique in my quest to simplify my life and focus on my dust-free valuables, 99% of which are intangible. So where do I go from here? Well, I'm still waiting on 33 books to sell on Amazon, I have a dozen more to list, a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff to sell, a pile of trash (another's treasure!) to donate, and much more. In February, Allison will travel to South Africa for a residency rotation, and I plan on  giving up TV for the month.

Inevitably, this minimalistic effort will take many forms. Ultimately, it's about reclaiming my space, my time, and my life. To celebrate, I had a "pitch party" by myself.