Contemplating A Sweeping Purge

My brain ended up selecting a direction for the day about lunch time. I was sitting at lunch, reading the Mercury News, and glanced over the apartment/townhouse/loft advertisements, since I am contemplating moving. One of the things I am contemplating is moving into a smaller and less expensive place – not because I need to save the money, but because I’ve been on this journey toward a minimal lifestyle for a while and, truth be told, I have more space than I really need or use.

That brought me around to the 11 boxes. I’ve mentioned before that, of my great minimalist sweep, all that really remained is 11 boxes in the closet in the spare bedroom. I have some sort of psychological barrier that is preventing me from purging those boxes. I took a look inside four of them nearly a month ago, shuffled things around, managed to toss a few things in the trash, and then put the boxes back.

Well, since then, I haven’t been in those boxes at all. Here is a simple truth I think – whatever is in those boxes is essentially valueless in practical terms. I neither utilize the contents nor contemplate the contents. They are simply objects in boxes. I am holding onto them because they MIGHT have some practical value (but, if they did, I think I would have used them by now) or they MIGHT have some sentimental value (but, if they did, I think I would have pulled stuff out and contemplated it by now). But they don’t. Sheer practicality tells me they don’t. I need to find the reserves of strength, get in there, and ruthlessly purge.

I have a few other areas in the apartment where I need to apply the same ruthlessness and purge, purge, purge. I keep joking that I am going to end up sitting on the living room floor, eating from my blue bowl, watching my big screen TV, in an almost empty apartment. That isn’t far from the truth. Once I have stripped things down, once I’ve made another purse sweep – and realistically I am going to be able to purge close to 50% of what remains without really blinking an eye, then I might more seriously contemplate moving. It would be a big change, but I am due a big change. Funny how becoming smaller means, ultimately, becoming bigger.