Whether we admit it is true of ourselves or not, we all agree that emotional baggage can weigh us down and hinder our movement.  But, what about physical baggage …the stuff with which we populate our lives?  You know what I’m referring to.  The furniture, the books, the decorations, the bric-a-brac.  The stuff that seems to be so important to us.

We cherish our stuff.  We show it off to friends and guests, we build shelves to display it and buy special boxes to store it.  Some people even build homes around their stuff.

I’m not saying any of this stuff is bad.  In fact, a lot of it good.  It is nice to have furniture on which to share meals or sit and watch TV.  Looking at old photo albums and reminiscing with friends is priceless.  But much of our stuff is unnecessary, takes precious time to maintain and causes stress.

Take me for example, I love books.  I have a ton of them.  So many in fact, that my garage has a dozen or so boxes full of them.  These are the books for which I no longer have space in my house.  I could buy more bookshelves, find a space in my home for them and unpack.  But by doing so, my living space would be crowded and I’d feel claustrophobic and become unproductive.

Then there are times like this morning. I was looking for something specific in the garage, I found myself moving box after box of books from one side of the garage to the other just so I could gain access to the object for which I was hunting.  (Which, by the way, I did not find.)  As I turned to reenter my house I realized I had built a fortress around myself with boxes of books. I had to move the boxes back to their original side of the garage just so I could access the door!

So, the question I have to ask myself is this “Is it worth my time to keep all these books?”  There are moments I’d like to think so.  As a writer I’m always reading, learning and referencing other peoples’ work.  True.  But, I’ve already pulled out the most valuable of my books and found places for them in my home.  The books in the garage are ones I rarely riffle through.  Besides, with the internet, information is just a few keystrokes away.

A few years ago, my husband and I pared down significantly.  We decided that we no longer wanted to be held captive to our stuff.  We wanted to be able to pack up and move across the country or to the other side of the world if we wanted to without having to worry about what to do with all our stuff.  We did move across the country, but in two short years we have again accumulated so much stuff that our 1800 square foot house it not big enough to house it all.  Pathetic!

I have a girlfriend who is, she and her family, preparing to go overseas as missionaries.  During their preparations they sold their home, gave many of their “valuables” to relatives who would care for them and sold the majority of their stuff.  Each of their kids was allowed to pack one box – one box – with items they wanted to keep.  The rest was gone.  At first this sounded a little harsh.  But, because this family has cut ties with the stuff that weighed them down they have been able to spend the past 7 weeks touring the United States.  They have seen more of our beautiful country in the past few months than most people will see in a lifetime.  And this is only the beginning.  In several months they will leave the US and travel to several places around the world.  What a wonderful journey.

So, back to my books.  I think I am, again, going to par down and sort my boxes.  The books that are truly indispensable to me I’ll have to find room for on my existing bookshelves.  The others I’ll either pass on to people who are interested or donate to worthy causes.  Either way, I will alleviate the stress that surrounds my books. Wow, just thinking about it is making me feel freer already.

Join me in letting go of some of the stuff that so easily weighs us down, cause stress and robs us of our time and freedom.  By doing so, together, we will Choose a Better Life.