Layers

We’re weighing up some life options. A big part of quite a few of the options we’re liking involve downsizing our home. It’s not an immediate plan but one we’d like to work towards over the next six months, or even year. What’s coming with that is the need to downsize our belongings even more. Those of you who were with us from the start will know just how much downsizing our belongings have already had to endure but the more you do, the more you find you can live without. And the more you find you can live without, the more all the remaining stuff feels like it’s clogging up your life.

It’s a bit like peeling off layers. You take one layer off and for a while it feels fresh and light and so much better. Then you start looking around and wondering if you could do with a bit less stuff. Another layer goes. It feels good. And if it feels that good, just how good would another layer feel? We’ve peeled about three layers so far. The deeper you go, the less superfluous the stuff gets, the more radical it feels.

As we start peeling the next layer, the reality of what we still actually own is beginning to sink in. Where we thought we’d been ruthless but we simply haven’t. If our plans to downsize are going to become a reality, we’re going to have to redefine ruthless. Now, where do we start this time?