Sunday, May 3, 2015

Downsizing and Radical Simplicity

The idea of downsizing and radical simplicity are not new ideas for me. My journey of exploring simplicity as a way of life was first seeded in my life while I was in high school. I remember reading the More with Less Cookbook by Francis Moore Lappe when Joel the Associate Pastor loaned me his copy. Living lightly and leaving a small footprint are not alien ideas to me. They are part of my core values. So what the hell happened?

Fast forward 35 years. Life happened. The assumption of large amounts of other people's personal property when they died happened. The accumulation of STUFF happened as one sought to fit into the lifestyle of the average American. Hubby and I purchased a three (could be 4) bedroom home with a large amount of space and proceeded to fill it with STUFF. STUFF that has begun to choke us out of the life we want and believe we are called to live. An maintaining a 2800 sq foot house is a lot of work and energy. Work and energy that we want to spend doing other things. We want to spend time with people not things. The things in our house are that...things....stuff....items that suck our attention away from people and relationships. THUS our decision to downsize.

We have become a servant to stuff, rather than the stuff enhancing our lives and relationships.

We bought this house because it would fit an antique dining room table. We had hope that our home would become the place where people in our family and our friends would gather. There have been instances where people were seated around our big old dining table, but for the most part the family doesn't like to come to our house because several are allergic to our cats. The cost of keeping the table and this house is too much. It's keeping hubby and I from living our lives, so downsizing is our journey at this time, as we seek to simplify our lives. This is our story.

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