How many things do you own? How many things are you responsible for?

Every thing we have comes with a cost beyond the purchase price. From maintenance to cleaning to relocating to using: we are required to do much more with our things than we usually think about. Let’s consider a lawn mower: it has the original purchase price, the sales tax if applicable, the time to transport, the space it takes up, the time and resources it takes to prep the mower for use, the physical energy that must be expounded to mow the lawn, the cleanup of the mower itself and whatever it leaves behind, then consistent maintenance to keep it from turning into a rust bucket. Sans the original cost, we rinse and repeat this energy, resources, and time consumption throughout many years.

If every item we own carries weight in time and energy, how much weight are we carrying that we don’t need without even realizing it? When we get overloaded by stress and life, how much of that comes from the situation itself or the accumulation of all of the weight we are carrying across all facets of our lives?

Take your eyes off the screen for a minute and think about what you are actually responsible for. In work, relationships, financial obligations, debt, home keeping, family. Then go one step further and think about the little things: the lawn mower, the junk drawer, the closet, the shoes, the car payment.

Likely, quite a few things came to mind. That’s a lot of responsibility.

We all have things we need - while a lawn mower comes with a lot of required maintenance, if you have a lawn, a lawn mower is essential. The purpose of this post is about being mindful about what we choose to buy and accumulate. Do we really need that third laptop? Do we need that game we will never finish? That subscription so we can binge watch? That fourth dog? It’s not about what is needed, it’s about having purpose in our things and not accumulating unnecessary items. Accumulation infringes on our ability to rest and recharge. If we weren’t bound by so many things, what could we accomplish?

An excellent resource for learning more about the impact of the weight we carry: The Minimalists. They have just about every option for you: books, audio books, a social media presence, a podcast, videos, and more.