April 7, 2015 – St. Paul, Minnesota

“Yeah, I have way too much stuff…”

It’s 2013, and that’s what comes out of my mouth as a few friends are helping me move out of my two bedroom apartment. That’s right; I had my own two bedroom apartment and needed every inch of that space. A prisoner of my possessions. I even had insurance on my sectional couch. Even worse is the fact that I had moved almost every year for the last… ten years? I don’t want to know how much time I’ve invested in moving my stuff.

Cut to today, where I’m helping my cousin and her boyfriend move into a house. How can two people own so much stuff? I guess it’s easy to think that way after purging 90 percent of your belongings. It’s also a nice reinforcing process to remind oneself what it would be like to go back to owning that much. When we’re done here, I’m going home, filling a box, and taking it straight to Goodwill.

I’m not trying to say that it’s bad to own a lot of things. I just find that without them, I can focus more on what’s truly important in my life. Things like health, family, friendships, traveling, and helping others. Not owning a lot allows me to be more free, more open to experiences, and more willing to take chances. That, and I can load up my car with all my stuff in under an hour.

Take that, American consumerism.

“The things you own end up owning you.” -Chuck Palahniuk