I have discovered Minimalism. This means many different things to many different people. To me this means de-cluttering my life, cutting back on the "things" I own and getting down to what I need to live and be happy. It means living deliberately. Thinking twice or thrice before making a purchase and bringing another "thing" into my life. I want to live with "passions" not "possessions".
Does this mean that I plan to give away all my stuff and live in an empty home? No, not at all. It just means that I'm going to think long and hard about whether or not I really need that next purchase or is it just a passing fancy that will end up in a box at the back of a closet.
I began the process of de-cluttering my life at work yesterday. I managed to remove well over half of the "stuff" from my office. Things I never use and are not required to do my job. I have opened up so much space in my office and taken away that closed in feeling. Very liberating. I'm not finished in the office but I am so close.
My next de-cluttering project is going to be my home office. I'm a photographer as well and I have a lot of old stuff that I never use. Some that I have never used because it ended up not being what I wanted or what I thought it would be. My desk is full of DVDs and hard drives with back ups of my photos. I'm going to make an official back up and take that to my parents home for safe keeping. I'll pick it up every month or two to add to it from my main system. I think I can get rid of all those DVDs or at least not add to them anymore.
I'm very excited to finally have some direction in my life. A way to begin to focus on my passions. I can't wait to discover what they are! I have lived for so long not really knowing what I wanted to do or how I was going to do it.
Chris.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
New Tagline
You may, or may not, have noticed that I've changed the tagline on my blog header.
It used to read:
"After struggling with my health and weight for most of my adult life I came across the Paleo diet and was amazed at how much better I felt and how much weight I lost while never feeling hungry or like something was missing. It was easy to fall off that wagon though with no support so I started this blog to try and be accountable to the world and myself. It doesn't matter if no one reads this at all but with it out there, the chance is there and I need to keep going just in case."
That was fine when that was the main focus of my early blog here. But, as the weeks have gone on, I've started looking deeply at my life and where I'm going...or not going for that matter. I decided that another weight loss blog just wasn't needed. So the new tag line evolved. Because, as it says, I find myself at an age where I need to refocus my life and start living deliberately.
I will get into more of that in future posts.
Chris.
It used to read:
"After struggling with my health and weight for most of my adult life I came across the Paleo diet and was amazed at how much better I felt and how much weight I lost while never feeling hungry or like something was missing. It was easy to fall off that wagon though with no support so I started this blog to try and be accountable to the world and myself. It doesn't matter if no one reads this at all but with it out there, the chance is there and I need to keep going just in case."
That was fine when that was the main focus of my early blog here. But, as the weeks have gone on, I've started looking deeply at my life and where I'm going...or not going for that matter. I decided that another weight loss blog just wasn't needed. So the new tag line evolved. Because, as it says, I find myself at an age where I need to refocus my life and start living deliberately.
I will get into more of that in future posts.
Chris.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Time To Declutter And Simplify.
I am in a slump. Almost a depression really. My life is complicated. Aren't all our lives complicated? We have bills to pay, gas to buy, cars to fix, mortgages to pay, sports for the kids, exercise for ourselves, health concerns.....on and on and on. It never seems to end.
Lately, I find myself getting tired of the rat race. I'm tired of trying to keep up with the "Jonses". Every time I turn around I'm bombarded with advertisements from all directions telling me I need this new thing or that shiny thing. It's constant and in all areas of my life. Take my passion of photography for instance. I'm constantly being made to feel like my camera gear is inadequate. I listen to a lot of podcasts about photography and so many photographers get hung up on gear that it becomes the focus of the process. I believe that the gear is secondary to the vision and creativeness of the artist. Sure it will help but the top of the line camera won't make a photo of a boring subject any more interesting.
It's everywhere. My fridge isn't good enough, my stove isn't hot enough. My truck isn't tough enough. Don't even get me started on what society thinks about how I raise my kids and what they need and want! That's a can of worms we shall not open here. Or ever on the internet for that matter!
I look around my house and I realize there is stuff everywhere. Literally everywhere. Clutter, clutter, clutter. I don't blame my wife, she's conditioned to this by society as well. I am starting to realize this though and I think that's the key. It's not just in the house either, my garage is insane. I have tools that I used once but I had to buy it not borrow it. Why? Why did I feel the need to own that tool instead of just borrowing one or using a simpler tool? Case in point, I have a compound mitre saw that I used for a week or so when I replaced the baseboards in our previous house. That was, hmmm, 10 years ago! I bet I've used it 3 or 4 times since then! But I had to buy it! I could have rented it for less and not had it sitting around since then.
I have been in this slump like I said for a couple of days now. I thought maybe it was just because work is very slow right now and I spend most of the day wishing I was doing something else but that's not it. Honestly, I just can't keep going with the consumerism. Spend, spend, spend. You need this, you need that, everything is made to be replaced. Why do we need it in the first place?
I bet most of us would be happier with having less and doing more. I think I would. Doing more to me means taking my kids to far off places so they can see what life is like there. Playing with them more than buying them something to play with. Going on a trip with my wife. Just us. We never had a proper honeymoon. We couldn't afford it. I want to live my life with passions not with possessions. I think it's time to make some changes. I need to declutter my life and start to live more simply.
Fine, there it is. I'm going to simplify. That said, what does that mean for me? Well that's the hard part. I'm going to start by not buying anything new for the month of February and see what that feels like. I'm also going to start attacking my current possessions and see what I can get rid of to start the decluttering.
That's a good start. My recognition of this problem will go a long way to helping me change my life and start moving forward again. I've rambled on enough for today. I'll keep you posted with how my simplification goes.
Chris.
Lately, I find myself getting tired of the rat race. I'm tired of trying to keep up with the "Jonses". Every time I turn around I'm bombarded with advertisements from all directions telling me I need this new thing or that shiny thing. It's constant and in all areas of my life. Take my passion of photography for instance. I'm constantly being made to feel like my camera gear is inadequate. I listen to a lot of podcasts about photography and so many photographers get hung up on gear that it becomes the focus of the process. I believe that the gear is secondary to the vision and creativeness of the artist. Sure it will help but the top of the line camera won't make a photo of a boring subject any more interesting.
It's everywhere. My fridge isn't good enough, my stove isn't hot enough. My truck isn't tough enough. Don't even get me started on what society thinks about how I raise my kids and what they need and want! That's a can of worms we shall not open here. Or ever on the internet for that matter!
I look around my house and I realize there is stuff everywhere. Literally everywhere. Clutter, clutter, clutter. I don't blame my wife, she's conditioned to this by society as well. I am starting to realize this though and I think that's the key. It's not just in the house either, my garage is insane. I have tools that I used once but I had to buy it not borrow it. Why? Why did I feel the need to own that tool instead of just borrowing one or using a simpler tool? Case in point, I have a compound mitre saw that I used for a week or so when I replaced the baseboards in our previous house. That was, hmmm, 10 years ago! I bet I've used it 3 or 4 times since then! But I had to buy it! I could have rented it for less and not had it sitting around since then.
I have been in this slump like I said for a couple of days now. I thought maybe it was just because work is very slow right now and I spend most of the day wishing I was doing something else but that's not it. Honestly, I just can't keep going with the consumerism. Spend, spend, spend. You need this, you need that, everything is made to be replaced. Why do we need it in the first place?
I bet most of us would be happier with having less and doing more. I think I would. Doing more to me means taking my kids to far off places so they can see what life is like there. Playing with them more than buying them something to play with. Going on a trip with my wife. Just us. We never had a proper honeymoon. We couldn't afford it. I want to live my life with passions not with possessions. I think it's time to make some changes. I need to declutter my life and start to live more simply.
Fine, there it is. I'm going to simplify. That said, what does that mean for me? Well that's the hard part. I'm going to start by not buying anything new for the month of February and see what that feels like. I'm also going to start attacking my current possessions and see what I can get rid of to start the decluttering.
That's a good start. My recognition of this problem will go a long way to helping me change my life and start moving forward again. I've rambled on enough for today. I'll keep you posted with how my simplification goes.
Chris.
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