Heather and I recently culled our possessions down to what fits into our mini-van. We sold all of our furniture on Craig’s List, we got rid of nearly everything that doesn’t fit into our mini-van.
This was the second time in 2 years that we’d gone through a similar exercise. We moved from a 2,000 square foot place down to an 880 square face. The time before the motivation was financial. My whole life was sinking due to the overhead we’d had, and I had to get rid of the ballast that was keeping u s behind.
What I felt when we got down to a smaller place was liberty. I felt free because I wasn’t ground down in advance each month. I was able to give up a near six figure income because I had less overhead. Heather felt a little bit–or a lot–like we were moving backwards. That’s understandable, but whatever public success we had had was a ruse: we were flat broke, and our eog prevented us from admitting that fact.
Now, as we drive to Oregon for the big move, two years in the making, I think we’ve gotten to where it makes sense: a tightly packed van load of stuff.
Durring both cullings, we had to make some choices about mementos, souvineers and gifts from other people. It made me rethink what a “gift” is. Unquestionably, I want every gift I give to bless people. And unquestionably, the people that gave us different things wanted to bless us.
When you get someone a substantial gift, you obligate them to store, move and care for this object for some long period of time which ends either in death or in a hard decision to pitch or sell the gift you gave them. You’re simultaneously making them rent storage spaces and accumulate crap over the years. It is not a deliberate burden.
How then can we show appreciation for others, without causing a balance sheet burden? How can we give a gift that’s unfettered and not poisoned by the expectation of reciprocity or gratitude?
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