Isn’t this a peculiar time of year? The week Post-Christmas and pre-New Year seems to me to be the oddest period without form where the only purposes offered up seem to be a random smorgasbord of options such as:
– losing a day (and an awful lot of cash) at the sales
– tidying and organising in anticipation of the year ahead
– trying desperately to shed excess pounds gained at Christmas in time for New Years Eve by gymming/walking/abstaining from food
– pursuing wildly some bizarre goal such as watching 24 back-to-back episodes of 24 (it can, and will, be done one day).
This year, I am embarking on none of the above (bar the requisite third – it has been a food-filled Christmas). I am instead enticed by the 100 Thing Challenge, as set down by Dave Bruno in his book.
Reading the actual book itself, I am told, is a waste of time – it essentially just tells you the following: things clutter the brain as well as home; we need remarkably few of them to be happy, and that whittling down our worldly goods will lead to greater zen/a stronger work ethic/a better night’s sleep. While the book may not be worth buying, the principle seems to me worthy of some consideration.
I think most of us are guilty of being a little too attached to things; the horror I felt at owning only a hundred things certainly convinced me that I was. While a hundred may seem very small number, after realising some items are grouped (Bruno allows that things such as a bag of electronic chargers or shelf of books only count for one of your allotted hundred possessions), I came to regard it as quite a thrilling prospect.
A wardrobe in which I can actually see my clothes? Yes please. Surfaces unencumbered by a motley collection of jewellery and contents of handbags? I’d like that. A cosmetics shelf with only my essentials on it? Well, that one might be a bit harder, but I’m sure I could do with scrutinising my hoard and culling where necessary.
In all likelihood, I won’t quite hit the hallowed hundred. But chucking – or better yet, selling – a few of the things that crowd my life? That seems a rather sensible way to spend time this evening. 24 will have to wait.