A Newish Direction Down the Trail

Starting down a path toward minimalism is not quite where I imagined I'd wind up as a result of the practice of walking. Everything that Remains continues to challenge me in ways that I knew that it would and ways that I had not imagined. Today was the second day of a renewed attempt at the 30 Day Minimalist Game. The idea of the game is that for 30 days you get rid of items from the house.  Day 1 you get rid of one item, day 2 is two items, day 3 is three items, all the way up to day 30 with thirty items. If I make it the full thirty days, I will have gotten rid of 465 items total. Yesterday, I started with the book at the airport. Today, I identified two other books by me beloved author Malcolm Gladwell.

Like the Dandelion Reaching Skyward from the
Crack in the Asphalt - We Persist

Three down...four hundred and sixty two to go. The last time I attempted this game, I got to about day eight or nine by divesting myself of books. At that point, I knew what I had to do, so I skipped the process and cleared out my bookshelf keeping only the very most "essential" books. Since I lept ahead, I rationalized that I could take a break and resume the process a few days down the road. I never picked up again. The books that I'm letting go now made the cut of "essential" books last time.

There is a lesson or two here for me. First, the process is the process because the daily discipline of deciding to lighten my load is the really valuable part of the game.  By leaping ahead, I burned out too quickly and let myself off the hook too easily. That's alright. Life is about progress, not perfection, and this time I will follow the suggested path as it has been laid out by folks who have ultimately found a measure of success in the practice of minimalism. I'm drawn to the idea of minimalism because I want what I perceive these people have "achieved." I should probably be willing to take their suggestions (without shortcuts) on how to get it.

Second, one of the reasons that the Gladwell books were saved the last time is because I allowed the material possession of the books themselves to become part of my identity. I was not successful then, and over the last two days, I've found it difficult to part with things that I've come to use (in part) to identify myself. It is both uncomfortable to let go of the things and the part of my identity that I perceive they represent, and it's difficult to realize the trap that I've fallen into where I've allowed the things to be substituted for a truer realization of my personality or essence. The ego is an amazing thing because though other aspects of my practice, I can identify the fingerprints of my ego in this level of discomfort.

I don't know what's going to happen this time with the experiment, but I do know I'm better prepared to carry it out than I was several months ago. I'm grateful for my sister's foresight in giving me a book that so clearly pointed in a direction that I believe I need to take. Tomorrow will be, and I have faith it will be good.