A Big Truck Came on Tuesday, or The Tao of Lightening Your Load!
I was blown away by the smile on his face when he sat down. I was lightening my load and he had a new chair. Something I was letting go of, made this guy’s day!
Call it purging, downsizing, Marie Kondo-ing, whatever. It could prove to be the path to an easier existence. My preferred nomenclature is The Tao of Lightening Your Load...
Admission No. 1 — A looming deadline helps!
Once they soak in a bit, I’ll be sharing more of my experiences with my ongoing downsizing. Let’s start with what happened when that truck came on Tuesday. Then we’ll see how it goes.
The smile-inducing leather easy-chair was still in great shape but had become a lot less easy on my lower back. Since I’ve developed your classic high-mileage wear-and-tear back pain at L5-S1, my wimpy back likes a lot more support these days.
I had finally decided to say my farewells to “My Chair.”
The new owner was part of the lawn crew that was trimming, pruning, mulching, and magically making our landscaping look alive again. The crew had arrived at the same time an outfit named 123Junk arrived to haul away a full load of my excess, um… crapola.
As it turns out, each of the guys found something and I was so happy to see all the excitement. My Weber kettle grill has a new home as well as some plywood and 2x4s that I had intended to use to make a workbench. You know what they say about intentions, right?
123’s business model is very cool. Their process is founded on three steps. First, everything that’s in good shape and serviceable gets donated. Then, the scraps, materials, and what-have-you that can be recycled are taken to area recyclers. And finally, what’s left gets disposed of responsibly. In other words, 123Junk lightens your load.
Getting to the point of being able to fill a truck with enough of one’s, ummm, excess is a bit of a journey. It can take some time. For me, it took a long time, both in accumulating and developing the courage to just-let-go. You know, to lighten my load.
In the end, this experience was nothing short of cathartic.
One of the barriers to my downsizing journey was a mindset that if an item was still good, I thought I might use it again someday, or I should sell it rather than just give it away. Or, if I didn’t think selling it would be worth the time and effort, I had to get the tax deduction.
COVID changed many things in our world and one of them is our general attitude about our possessions. We suddenly wanted less of them—far less.
The pandemic was the wake-up call that led many of us to start rethinking what’s really important.
How much do I need and why am I keeping toys from twenty years ago that I can’t even remember the last time I used them? I’m learning that all this stuff we treasure has little value, especially after a year that forced us to contemplate what matters most in this life.
I can tell you this for sure… Lightening your load is a wonderful feeling!
Be untucked.
p.s. [Tao] means a road, path, way; and hence, the way in which one does something; method, doctrine, principle.
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Copyright © 2021 Jeff Meister – All Rights Reserved
When we were preparing for our big move 9-10 years ago, we went through a long, long process of thinning out stuff. Eventually we landed on a two-question test that guided us through tough decisions: (1) If this treasure were to suddenly disappear, would we even notice that it was gone? (2) If we noticed, would we feel compelled to go out and replace it?
Surprisingly little got through both tests .And yes, “cathartic” was the exact word we felt.
We’re beginning to understand how hard and long the process can be. Thanks for sharing your two-question approach… pure gold. A helpful question that has served us well when considering a purchase is, “Where will it go?” The new house will be smaller, so it’s also helpful when deciding what to keep.
I can hardly wait to hear how it was to see the moving van pull up in Santa Fe today with all that you decided TO KEEP.
These moves in later years have impact, coming and going!
Your new picnic table artist friend,
Lisa
The cool thing is, they didn’t pull up with a van. It was all in one of the bigger U-Haul. It felt like a victory in its own right. You’re right about the impact of moving in our later years, all that *stuff* has lost most of its importance! Honored to have you as our first new friend in Santa Fe!