I'm torn. Half of the time I look around my room, at my possessions and think, I need those. The other half of the time I see quite literally all of them as unnecessary.
Running awards and old race bibs are the perfect example for me. Why hold on to them? As far as these things are concerned I know what I have accomplished and will always remember the times in races that are worthy of sticking in my memory. Rather than looking back at what I have done, why not focus my energy more on looking forward to what I can do? Rather than having a wall full or race bibs why not have a wall full of trails and races that I have yet to run? Or maps of the AT strung up that I have yet to explore? Better yet why not just hang my shoes on the wall, so every time I look up there I'm reminded to go for a run!
It is easy in America to acquire a lot of junk. For this reason I stopped going to Wal-Mart and Target earlier in the year. Now I am ready to start narrowing down my possessions. I'll get rid of 7 things per week for the rest of the year. Some things may be big, some small, but I can guarantee at the end of the year I won't miss any of it. For comical purposes only I will write down every thing that I get rid of. At the end of the year I have a feeling this will put into perspective just how much I really need these things that I pass by and rarely ever use.
Running awards and old race bibs are the perfect example for me. Why hold on to them? As far as these things are concerned I know what I have accomplished and will always remember the times in races that are worthy of sticking in my memory. Rather than looking back at what I have done, why not focus my energy more on looking forward to what I can do? Rather than having a wall full or race bibs why not have a wall full of trails and races that I have yet to run? Or maps of the AT strung up that I have yet to explore? Better yet why not just hang my shoes on the wall, so every time I look up there I'm reminded to go for a run!
It is easy in America to acquire a lot of junk. For this reason I stopped going to Wal-Mart and Target earlier in the year. Now I am ready to start narrowing down my possessions. I'll get rid of 7 things per week for the rest of the year. Some things may be big, some small, but I can guarantee at the end of the year I won't miss any of it. For comical purposes only I will write down every thing that I get rid of. At the end of the year I have a feeling this will put into perspective just how much I really need these things that I pass by and rarely ever use.
End of Week 29 Update
The cleaning has begun! This goal has been a lot more fun than I expected originally because I am not only seeing changes in myself now but also in the environment that I surround myself with every day. Here are the things that I either gave away, threw out or donated this week.
1. A full brim Sunday Afternoons hat
2. Full wine bottle and a corker
3. Wooden white display stand
4. A trophy
5. Metal soda cup full of pens
6. Pair of greasy work shoes
7. Old sleeping bag
Looking back at the list after a week, I can't say that I wish I had kept any of it. By the end of the year it will be interesting to see if I even remember some of these items. It is funny how waking up and coming home to a clean space can make such a difference in my attitude and mood. This is probably not news to any interior designers out there but I have never really put much thought to it. So with this goal I hope to achieve by the end of the year a space for myself that breeds creativity, productivity and forward thinking. A nursery for goals and dreams rather than a space filled with items from the past, things that I might use, and dust.
Other highlights of the week included foraging for blackberries with my friends David and Elena before they head off for Texas. It is wild that people buy these things in the store for $4/cup when they are growing so rampant on the outskirts of just about every property in town. Ya just gotta get out there and look. We proceeded to make a delicious blackberry pie and a great dinner of Portobello burgers with homemade pesto and baked curry sweet potato fries.
End of Week 29 Totals
Soda - 0 ounces
Water - 104.41 Gallons
Liquor - 0 shots
Tea - 364 cups
Trips to unhappy places - Jimmy Johns (1)
$ to support neighbors = $522.39
Fried food consumption - 2 dorito chips
Breakfasts eaten - 154
Pushups - 1180 Crunches - 1040
Days Flossed - 138 (missed two days)
Coffee - 0 cups
Sunrises attended - 18
Beers drunk - 0
Gallons of Trash Collected - 396
Items planted -12 jalapenos, 12 bell peppers, 8 yellow pear tomatoes, 30 canna bulbs, 1 chinese pistache, 30 sensitive plants, 24 carolina reaper peppers, 12 ghost peppers, 31 scorpion peppers, 5 brussel sprouts, 12 tyria hybrid cucumbers, 14 congo watermelons, 6 hybrid prizewinner pumpkins, 45 devils tongue peppers, 14 black sea man tomatoes, 33 peruvian white lightning habaneros, 16 mammoth russian sunflowers, 30 big smile sunflowers, 100 zinnia's, 100 basil plants, 100 green onion plants, 12 chinese lanterns, 30 garden beans, a bed of mint, 50 Celosia flowers, 7 Red Maple Seeds, 30 brussel sprouts, transplant 34 pepper plants, transplant 13 sensitive plants and 3 watermelon plants, transplant 15 pepper plants and 6
sensitive plants
Letters written - 14
Meat eaten - none
Donations made - Bike the US for MS, Personal Mission Trip, Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, Against Malaria Foundation, Deworm the World Initiative, Project Healthy Children, charity: water, Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, YMCA Thrift Store, Volunteered at Plenty!, Against Malaria Foundation, Food supplies to Plenty! food pantry,
Movies watched - 0
Glasses of wine - 0
New dishes cooked - Vegetable Korma, Ukranian Vinaigrette, Lamb's Quarters Quiche, Thai Spicy Eggplant with Sweet Basil and a side of Bean Sprout Salad with Peanut Chili Dressing, Pan Bagnat with grilled peppers and basil vinaigrette and a side of Classic Gougères, Vegetarian Feijoada and Brazilian Bananas, Baked Eggplant Parmesan (mixture of this and this recipe), Somalian Fataa'ir Farmaajo and Barooddo Qudaar, Portobello Burgers and homemade pesto,
Miles ran - 376.4
Facebook and Twitter time = 0 minutes
Books Read - The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter, The Other by David Guterson, currently reading The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert
Nights camped - 0
Ice fails - 1
Items dispersed - 7
The cleaning has begun! This goal has been a lot more fun than I expected originally because I am not only seeing changes in myself now but also in the environment that I surround myself with every day. Here are the things that I either gave away, threw out or donated this week.
1. A full brim Sunday Afternoons hat
2. Full wine bottle and a corker
3. Wooden white display stand
4. A trophy
5. Metal soda cup full of pens
6. Pair of greasy work shoes
7. Old sleeping bag
Looking back at the list after a week, I can't say that I wish I had kept any of it. By the end of the year it will be interesting to see if I even remember some of these items. It is funny how waking up and coming home to a clean space can make such a difference in my attitude and mood. This is probably not news to any interior designers out there but I have never really put much thought to it. So with this goal I hope to achieve by the end of the year a space for myself that breeds creativity, productivity and forward thinking. A nursery for goals and dreams rather than a space filled with items from the past, things that I might use, and dust.
Other highlights of the week included foraging for blackberries with my friends David and Elena before they head off for Texas. It is wild that people buy these things in the store for $4/cup when they are growing so rampant on the outskirts of just about every property in town. Ya just gotta get out there and look. We proceeded to make a delicious blackberry pie and a great dinner of Portobello burgers with homemade pesto and baked curry sweet potato fries.
End of Week 29 Totals
Soda - 0 ounces
Water - 104.41 Gallons
Liquor - 0 shots
Tea - 364 cups
Trips to unhappy places - Jimmy Johns (1)
$ to support neighbors = $522.39
Fried food consumption - 2 dorito chips
Breakfasts eaten - 154
Pushups - 1180 Crunches - 1040
Days Flossed - 138 (missed two days)
Coffee - 0 cups
Sunrises attended - 18
Beers drunk - 0
Gallons of Trash Collected - 396
Items planted -12 jalapenos, 12 bell peppers, 8 yellow pear tomatoes, 30 canna bulbs, 1 chinese pistache, 30 sensitive plants, 24 carolina reaper peppers, 12 ghost peppers, 31 scorpion peppers, 5 brussel sprouts, 12 tyria hybrid cucumbers, 14 congo watermelons, 6 hybrid prizewinner pumpkins, 45 devils tongue peppers, 14 black sea man tomatoes, 33 peruvian white lightning habaneros, 16 mammoth russian sunflowers, 30 big smile sunflowers, 100 zinnia's, 100 basil plants, 100 green onion plants, 12 chinese lanterns, 30 garden beans, a bed of mint, 50 Celosia flowers, 7 Red Maple Seeds, 30 brussel sprouts, transplant 34 pepper plants, transplant 13 sensitive plants and 3 watermelon plants, transplant 15 pepper plants and 6
sensitive plants
Letters written - 14
Meat eaten - none
Donations made - Bike the US for MS, Personal Mission Trip, Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, Against Malaria Foundation, Deworm the World Initiative, Project Healthy Children, charity: water, Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, YMCA Thrift Store, Volunteered at Plenty!, Against Malaria Foundation, Food supplies to Plenty! food pantry,
Movies watched - 0
Glasses of wine - 0
New dishes cooked - Vegetable Korma, Ukranian Vinaigrette, Lamb's Quarters Quiche, Thai Spicy Eggplant with Sweet Basil and a side of Bean Sprout Salad with Peanut Chili Dressing, Pan Bagnat with grilled peppers and basil vinaigrette and a side of Classic Gougères, Vegetarian Feijoada and Brazilian Bananas, Baked Eggplant Parmesan (mixture of this and this recipe), Somalian Fataa'ir Farmaajo and Barooddo Qudaar, Portobello Burgers and homemade pesto,
Miles ran - 376.4
Facebook and Twitter time = 0 minutes
Books Read - The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter, The Other by David Guterson, currently reading The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert
Nights camped - 0
Ice fails - 1
Items dispersed - 7