Letting Go Of The Clutter In Our Lives
By Cheval John
Photo courtesy of Victor Habbick
Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate and I get a commission from recommending books on Amazon. I only recommend books that I have read or I believe that will benefit you, the reader.
This post is in response to Natalie Sisson’s question, “What work and life clutter are you going to remove in order to be a minimalist? #paraphrased.
It is part of Natalie’s “15 Days To Freedom Blog Challenge.”
We were “raised” up to believe that we needed things in our life in order to be happy.
If someone has a new iPhone 6, then you need to get one.
Or the fact that you need to have a house in order to believe that you have made it.
The problem is that once you accumulate a whole lot of stuff, then you have less choices.
In the case of owning a house, all that will do is put you in a bind because of mortgage, maintainance, and limited choices.
Plus, they will have to work even harder to make more money so that they can keep the house and hopefully pay off the mortgage.
James Altucher elaborated further with this quote in his LinkedIn article, “Why Entrepreneurs Should Not Buy Homes,”
“Corporations didn’t want their employees to have many job choices. So they encouraged them to own homes. So they can’t move away and get new jobs.”
The most interesting thing is that people had second thoughts on owning a home after the 2008 Recession and wondered if it is viable to own a home.
Some of those people are deciding to not stay in one place and travel the world.
People like Rolf Potts, who spent over 18 months traveling throughout Asia and the Middle East after making about $20,000 dollars from teaching English in South Korea for two years.
Mr. Potts was a globe trotter when the economy was booming in the United States.
Another person is Ms. Sisson, who runs her online business from anywhere in the world and lives out of her suitcase.
Or Rob and Nadine Pisani.
The Pisanis had what seemingly were “successful” careers as chiropractors and was living the American Dream.
However, they both realized that they needed a change of scenery, so they moved to Costa Rica in 2007 and are now living life to the fullest.
Nadine documented their journey to Costa Rica in her books, “Happier Than A Billionaire: The Escape Manual” and “Happier Than A Billionaire: The Sequel.”
Reading these stories on how people like Mr. Potts, Ms. Sisson and the Pisanis shows everyone including me that it is possible to enjoy life and be happy without having the big houses, college degree or the 9-5 job, though it is not bad to have the 9-5 job.
However, you must be very careful of not falling for the trap that the big houses, a college degree or the 9-5 is the only way to enjoy life.
So for me, I am already trying not to have too much stuff in my life.
However, the one stuff I will declutter is printed books.
The reason is because I can read these books on Kindle and I don’t have to worry about carry them whenever I move somewhere.
And I have already decluttered people who are always negative about the world and always feels sorry for themselves.
As for traveling, my goal is to spend a year on 6 different continents because I got a glimpse of living overseas after spending a month in Mexico and three months in Chile.
What is the one clutter/s are you going to get rid of in your life? You can leave your comments below.
I really love this. So often “less is more.” Stopping to think about the status quo and whether that’s what we actually WANT is a good move. Personally, I’m on the fence about home ownership but I do see the merits of remaining debt and obligation free in that regard. Owning a home is only useful once you actually OWN it, after all….. We do have a few Jonesian things in my family… husband has a newish truck and motorcycle, etc. But my own pride and joy is my 15 year old car that runs just great thank-you-very-much and that I don’t owe money on. It brings me joy every time I drive it because it symbolizes freedom!!
Great food for thought here, Cheval. I look forward to reading more of your posts.
Thank you, Christin for your comments. That is awesome that you don’t have any debt. I will never own a house ever. Rather have the freedom to travel. Glad that you are doing great things. Thank you again for your comments.
Interesting post Cheval! Friends here in Australia who own their house (home ownership rates here are still very strong, although the entry cost may change that for the next generation) are contemplating renting it out and going somewhere else in the world to live more simply – in a similar vein to what the Pisanis did. I wonder if we’re the last generation who will be able to pay off their mortgage in their lifetimes?
Good afternoon, Michelle. That is really interesting. They are making it hard for anyone to own a home in Australia? At least they are waking up to living life to the fullest and seeking out adventures that will allow them to fulfill their dreams. Thank you for reading the post.