The Year Of Less, The Year Of More

Several years ago, when Marie Kondo’s bestselling book, “The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up” came out, it resonated a lot with me.

Shortly after reading it, I took the book’s guidance and went into my closet to start getting rid of clothing and shoes that I’d either not worn in two years or that no longer “brought me joy”.

I packed up a couple of garbage bags worth of apparel and donated it to people in need.

It was such a dramatic reduction in what I was used to seeing in my closet but it was refreshing and I knew that what I was left with were the things that would get the most wear and that I enjoyed the most.

Of course, apparel tends to wear down and wear out over time so as pieces started to decline in quality or as new clothing was purchased, I continued to keep my things down to a given minimum by finding pieces to throw away or donate.

I’ve never returned to the same amount of clothing that I owned prior to reading that book.

I’ve mentioned before on this site that I’ve collected some manner of material things for most of my life.

Over the last several years, it’s been books, records and bourbon.

This past year, the bourbon collection has dwindled down to a fraction of what it was before and while it wasn’t planned, I’ve been dry since before the end of the year. So, fewer bottles on the shelf and less personal consumption.

I’ve also started to go through my records and books and whittle down those collections as well.

I’ve reached a point where having lots of “things” just doesn’t give me the same joy it once did.

So 2025, for me, will be a work in progress of continuing to get rid of more and more things so that I can just own less and less.

In addition to the items themselves, I know I have a tendency to struggle with FOMO (fear of missing out), so I’ve unsubscribed from many email newsletters letting me know about upcoming or limited edition items and I’ve unfollowed many social media pages which might advertise the same.

As I go through this process, I find that it is always stress reducing for me and I don’t know anyone who wakes up and says: Let’s see how stressed out I can make myself today.

By comparison, the things I want more of likely won’t take up shelf space and they’ll be a fraction of the monetary cost of all those material things.

-I want more personal peace

-I want to learn more about being an effective coach

-I want more time with my wife and my boys

-I want more progress towards my strength (mental and physical).

As of now, I have around 1200 books in my library at the studio and over 1000 records at home. The plan is to cut out at least 20% of both to free up both physical and mental space and just let rooms breathe.

Knowing how I tend to be, once I start letting go of things, more will follow.

As the sentiment goes: I can’t take this stuff with me when I die and while I do plan to live as long as I can, less clutter leads to less stress so this is the year of less stress (and the objects that contribute to it) and more peace in my life.