Living on less is so far from the opposite of anything I’ve ever done. I don’t mean money, I mean things. At one point in time, about three years ago, I had 3 storage units. Not one, not two, but three. One of the storage units I’d had for quite a few years and didn’t even really know what was in there any longer. Worse, my kids were young when I got it and it had been so long, it got to the point where when I finally took the stuff out of the unit, they could no longer wear the clothes, they couldn’t play with the toys, it was just a very bittersweet moment but an eye-opening one as well.
I’d accumulated so many things I didn’t even know what I had any longer. Things I obviously thought I wanted because I felt the need to put them in storage and pay for years to hold on to them, yet clearly I didn’t need them because I kept them tucked away for so long that by the time I got them back out again, they were no longer useful.
Getting Back My Money
At the end of the day, I’d wasted money and missed out on memories I could have made with those items if I had actually been using them. The same can really be said about the clothes in my closet. I have clothes hanging up I can no longer wear. Things that fit me about 4 or 5 years ago but no longer do and I’m holding onto them waiting for the day that the pounds melt off and they miraculously fit again. If only losing weight was as simple as pounds just puddling up on your skin on a hot summer day and sliding off.
Getting Back My Sanity
I didn’t really notice how the things in my closet weren’t fitting because they were mostly from my corporate America days. In the job I’m currently furloughed from, I pretty much wore the company branded t-shirt with a variety of pants that I also haven’t needed to wear recently. I haven’t been going anywhere that’s required my quarantine attire to be more than the yoga and sweat pants I’ve grown accustomed to over the months. Basically, I’ve been wearing things with stretch that have kept me oblivious to “normal” clothing being too snug now in my previous size.
It wasn’t until we took our first Covid-19 road trip, and I had nothing to pack because nothing fit, that I realized my closet was like the storage units. Sure, the clothes were in my house, and I had easy everyday access to the closet, but I was no longer going in the closet to grab anything from a hanger, so it had now become an accumulation of clothing that I could no longer do anything with except stare at and remember how great they look on me – once upon a time. That’s when I realized the value of living on less, so I would have more.
Living On Less
Even though they’re popping up everywhere like mushrooms in the yard, I’m ridding myself of storage units filled with portions of my life to be tucked away until who knows when. I’m finally purging my closet of those items that only depress me to look at because I haven’t fit in a size 2 in 4 years and it may or may not be my size in the future. I’ve even started eating half of the food on my plate because I realized there’s too much on there whether I make the food at home or go out to eat and that’s definitely the culprit for my gain in weight and diminished quality of life in terms of health and energy.
I’ve finally gotten over the hump of stress, anxiety, and feeling like I need to hold on to all the things to make me happy and have a full life. That’s definitely something I owe to 2020, so cheers to that.
Why do you think we feel the need to have so much in life or hold on to things that aren’t serving us? Is living on less something you’ve been considering? Please, let me know in the comments and, as always, thank you for reading!
