
The smallest space I ever lived in was a tiny, windowless room that couldn’t have been more than 150 square feet.
To be fair, it was in an apartment with shared roommates. I had a kitchen in another room, and some other living space. I barely used them though– I was a kind of recluse, actually, and I’m pretty sure I was a bad roommate.
At the time, I was traveling back and forth from Austin, TX. I had a girlfriend there that I dated for about 2 years. As a result of traveling, I learned to live inside a very small bag. I had already figured out how to live in a tiny room, so deciding what to travel with was easy too. My work was on the internet, mainly writing and speaking at conferences, so I didn’t really need to impress anyone. It was easy.
Yesterday I was MC’ing an event and had the chance to see a great talk from Graham Hill about his crazy minimalist apartment. This also got me thinking about my friend Vic Verdier, an ex-scuba world champion, whose whole life now fits inside of a bag (and also includes a 17″ laptop).
If you’re anything like me, seeing these guys makes you realize you just straight up have too much stuff. Despite your best intentions, they keep accumulating. For example, I now own three pairs of the same shoes. They were cheap, but so what? Is this ok?
Homework
This week’s homework is a part of a practice of detachment. Throw out or give away the most important item you can stand to get rid of.
To tell you the truth, I’m not even sure what I’m going to be doing this with. It’s a threatening thing to even think about– to get rid of something you actually like but don’t need– but in some cases, it’s necessary.
You’ll flinch when you’re about to throw it out. So it may be easier to just choose someone to give something away to. But even that, in a way, is copping out.
Whichever way you choose to do this, get rid of something significant.
Good luck with your assignment. Report back in the comments when you are done.
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