Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the stuff I have.
I don't think I am alone. In our society, we are expected to be good consumers, but it goes deeper than that. We say we like nice things, or we cling to an inflated sense of value - what we paid for something, or how difficult it was to find or acquire. Or, perhaps worse, we start to see ourselves as collectors.
I have a vinyl collection, about two thousand albums or so. By some measures that is a lot, and compared to some collections that is quite small. The value to me comes from several factors. Firstly it is music I liked enough to buy, it also shows how my interests have changed over the years. If I were to put it in the order I bought it, it would show my musical interests as I age as well as my particular obsessions at a given time.
However much pleasure it gives me, it also is a weight on my mind as I grow older. What to do with it, who would appreciate it, or how to store it. And that is just one area where I have collected things. We all have more than we need, and require more space to store it in.
And yet, I keep purchasing - not just vinyl, or books, or things I would like to own. But we are all expected to own more. My grandparents were happy if they owned a nice radio, or television when it came along. Now our lives are filled with televisions, computers, phones and more in the form of peripherals. Beside my computer I have a multi-function printer on one side, a flatbed scanner on the other, and the router behind me. Don't get me started on kitchen gadgets!
I often think it would be nice to pare things down, to be able to live in a smaller space without feeling cramped. Eventually, to know that when I pass, I haven't left a ton of stuff for someone else to have to decide how to dispose of. Or to have it pared down enough that they can simple move it without multiple trucks and destinations.
The challenge is to do that without losing functionality - and the ability to help oneself. I firmly believe that everyone should have a good, basic set of tools to be able to simple repairs for themselves. A bookcase for their books, for reference, education and pleasure. And so on.
I hope someday to reach that goal.
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