100 Thing Challenge

Oh, yeah. It's on.

I was poking around the Web this evening and found this guy who is doing this challenge to only own 100 things for one whole year.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1812048,00.html

www.guynameddave.com

So, given the unique opportunity I have to slowly, consciously and deliberately move items from one living space to another, I've decided to give this a go. Why not? I seem to always desire a challenge in my life. And I do have a desire to live as simply as possible, and this sounds like a reasonable however arbitrary place to start.

A lot of people seem to ask, "What counts as one thing?" A pair of shoes? Or the category of "Shoes" itself? I don't know what it means to me yet. It was recommended to simply start first by setting out an intention or a vision of what I would like my life to look like. Then as I go through the stuff, keep aligning myself with my vision of the way I want to live, and decide if that thing in my hand can support me in that.

I am hoping to find a way to incorporate the box of paper journals I have kept for years...I would like to type them up and get them published. I wonder if they'd be useful to anyone...well, hmm. Best I start with the vision, and go from there.

"What is the vision you have for the life you want?"

Simplicity. A simple life, that is uncomplicated.

Peaceful success. A space to come home to where I can unwind, work through my struggles and celebrate my acheivements and transformation into a physician, a healer, and a lover of life.

Space to breathe. Time to breathe. Space and time to enjoy space and time.


"What do I need for this space?"

Well I will start with the things I'm obviously attached to, and then try to talk my way out of attachment to them:

1) the car -- it gets me where I want to be, and slightly essential for a student who lives 14 miles from school and 8 miles from clinic. Although I am very hip to riding the bus, I am not quite ready to ditch the car.

2) the bedframe -- I'm a fan of this bedframe because it doubles as 6-drawer storage. No need for a dresser with this baby around.

3) the bed mattress -- Yay for comfy mattress.

4) pillow

5, 6, 7) stuffed animals from childhood -- nostalgia and the visceral sense of safety is a hard one to argue with.

8) Clothing -- oh hell. If each article of clothing counts as one item, then I'm basically fucked. Let's see if I can break it down a bit.
* hats
* t-shirts
* clinic clothes (what if I limit myself to a few outfits? say 5? or maybe a few cool combo things...)
* shoes
* the bathrobe
* flannel jammie bottoms ( I can get rid of all but one of these, I'm sure)
* scarves
* socks
* sweaters/ sweatshirts/ jackets
* ehh...next topic

9) Books - it's almost unfair to make a medical student count each book as a separate item. One kind of doesn't know what kind of resources they'll need in a few years, a few months or a few hours.

10) the computer

11) the papasan chair

12) the desk

13, 14, 15, 16) bookshelves -- is this any hint of how many books I may have? no fair.

17) the medical bag and all of its contents -- this just has to count as its own one thing. there's kinda no way around needing the 20 or so items in there.

18) For a couch, I'd love to purchase one of these: http://www.pillowfurniture.com/Loveseats.html

19, 20) coffee tables -- one for writing and eating and using the computer on, and the other as an altar in the bedroom.

21) my drum -- can all my shamanic stuff count as one thing? I can condense it...oh dear this is getting challenging, I can see.

Things that fall into the "I-may-need-it-someday-as-a-practitioner" category

9) Books -- see above

22) the massage table

23) the manip table


the other option was to give away one thing a day for an entire year...I wonder if I could do that instead...give up 365 things in one go. maybe I'll give that a shot. Perhaps I'll try doing both during this purging process, and hopefully my efforts will psh me through towards a new way of thinking about the stuff I keep in my life.