The process of purging has begun. Over the last 6+ years of living together, Dustin and I have managed to accumulate a whole lot of "stuff" that has spent much of it's life with us in boxes. Even though we've generally moved every year - due to travel or want for somewhere different - we're still able to pare down this silly amount of goods. So I spent Sunday afternoon posting stuff on Craigslist. Much to Dustin's chagrin - he is an expert CL seller and Sunday is not his recommended time for posting, especially without a phone number! (So I don't want a lot of random calls from people who don't show up when they say they will quite often!) However, he'd already left for Logan Lake and I'm just not into the Super Bowl so why not get it up there. We can always post it again on a better day if there's not too many bites. But, one person will be making their own yogurt after tonight! For asking price, no less! It probably seems silly to some people to just get rid of these things but to us it makes more sense to shed some stuff than for it to sit in a cupboard and be used 2 or 3 times a year. Also, considering there's a bulk of items we haven't even unpacked since we got back in April (mostly due to space limitations) we've learned that we don't need all these fancy appliances to serve our food preparation preferences. And the ones we do use regularly can be replaced. If we use them enough, of course we'd want them in NZ.
This is just the start though. One factor is that we cannot use our electrical items in New Zealand. Sure we'll use adapters but the lifetime of kitchen appliances, for instance, will be greatly shortened if we do that. Dustin got a glimpse of that at work yesterday when someone had plugged the extension cord into the 240V outlet on the generator instead of the 120V outlet (or is it the other way around?) He thought it was a problem with the saw at first - he'd never seen it work in hyperspeed before. But then the drill also amped itself up so they realized what was going on. Kind of would be sweet for a smoothie to be done in 8 seconds but then we'd definitely have to keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. For us the kitchen is where most of the excess lies - can you tell we're foodies? - so hopefully it should be easy enough to decide what to keep and what to ship down. So far so good! (As a Bryan Adams' album once said.)
It's amazing what a trouble it can be to rid ourselves of "stuff" sometimes. Emotional attachment. Perceived value. Simply something that nobody else would want. So many stumbling blocks. Which is why this one box of my high school awards has been sitting for more than a week and all I've done is slice open the tape. I haven't even opened it up yet. I have intentions of taking photos of anything that I want to remember and then finding a new home for these plaques. It's kind of weird though because nobody else wants something with my name on it! But in all honesty, I don't foresee a trophy room in any of my future dwellings and if I haven't displayed them since approximately 2002 or 2003, do I really need to hang onto them? I sure like to bask in the thought that I was commended for a job well done but they also can have an adverse affect. Was that my peak of achievement? I think one problem is that once you're into the working world, awards and recognition becomes a bit less common. Even if you're doing a great job. Or they don't come in the form of a Native-inspired design on a marbled green background. So maybe these markers of dated achievements are more of a detriment to my well-being than they are meant to be? Maybe it would be more fun to smash them in a spectacular way to clear the slate and allow myself to achieve whatever the hell I want without having to compare to past and impending achievements??
I have realized that I seem to line up my self-worth with my achievements (using a loose definition of the word - they don't have to be physical proof but can simply be crossing off a to-do list) which is a great way to keep me wanting to set goals and work towards them. But, it can make me feel guilty for the times I want to do absolutely nothing. I think I need practice doing nothing. I think I need to learn that time can be as valuable, or more valuable than ticking off a to-do list.
This is just the start though. One factor is that we cannot use our electrical items in New Zealand. Sure we'll use adapters but the lifetime of kitchen appliances, for instance, will be greatly shortened if we do that. Dustin got a glimpse of that at work yesterday when someone had plugged the extension cord into the 240V outlet on the generator instead of the 120V outlet (or is it the other way around?) He thought it was a problem with the saw at first - he'd never seen it work in hyperspeed before. But then the drill also amped itself up so they realized what was going on. Kind of would be sweet for a smoothie to be done in 8 seconds but then we'd definitely have to keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. For us the kitchen is where most of the excess lies - can you tell we're foodies? - so hopefully it should be easy enough to decide what to keep and what to ship down. So far so good! (As a Bryan Adams' album once said.)
It's amazing what a trouble it can be to rid ourselves of "stuff" sometimes. Emotional attachment. Perceived value. Simply something that nobody else would want. So many stumbling blocks. Which is why this one box of my high school awards has been sitting for more than a week and all I've done is slice open the tape. I haven't even opened it up yet. I have intentions of taking photos of anything that I want to remember and then finding a new home for these plaques. It's kind of weird though because nobody else wants something with my name on it! But in all honesty, I don't foresee a trophy room in any of my future dwellings and if I haven't displayed them since approximately 2002 or 2003, do I really need to hang onto them? I sure like to bask in the thought that I was commended for a job well done but they also can have an adverse affect. Was that my peak of achievement? I think one problem is that once you're into the working world, awards and recognition becomes a bit less common. Even if you're doing a great job. Or they don't come in the form of a Native-inspired design on a marbled green background. So maybe these markers of dated achievements are more of a detriment to my well-being than they are meant to be? Maybe it would be more fun to smash them in a spectacular way to clear the slate and allow myself to achieve whatever the hell I want without having to compare to past and impending achievements??
I have realized that I seem to line up my self-worth with my achievements (using a loose definition of the word - they don't have to be physical proof but can simply be crossing off a to-do list) which is a great way to keep me wanting to set goals and work towards them. But, it can make me feel guilty for the times I want to do absolutely nothing. I think I need practice doing nothing. I think I need to learn that time can be as valuable, or more valuable than ticking off a to-do list.
Comments
Post a Comment