i spend a lot of time on this blog writing about stuff - buying stuff, wanting stuff, posting pictures of stuff. over the last couple of days it has troubled me a bit, am i too focused on stuff? is my attitude right?
my relationship with stuff is something i have thought about for a long time about my relationship with stuff. as a child i was a hoarder big time! i recall my glamorous french aunt thinking all my stuff was delightful and creative and commenting how spontaneous me and my brother were (a complement my mother holds close to her heart to this day).
i have always been expert at collecting things up and turning a room into a home very very quickly.
when i was 17 i moved to africa with my life in a suitcase, and i managed to somehow fill my room with all sorts of stuff, but it was always a place that people wanted to hang out and i liked that it was cosy. after two years i had an awful time parting myself from some of the random tat i had accumulated, shipping a lot of it back only to wonder why i bothered when i unpacked a month later!
over the last few years i have been shedding some of my stuff and moving on to the next stage in my life. i regularly find myself thinking if i had to choose, say if i was emigrating, what would i keep and what would i pass on? i guess i feel more secure these days so i don't feel the need to surround myself with stuff and hoard stuff to make myself feel at home. it is a nice feeling really, liberating. i am not going to give up having stuff , but i want my stuff to be meaningful and well chosen, beautiful and functional, and i have to say most of my stuff is just that (or very sentimental!).
i still like stuff. i like design, i like things that i need and that function and look good. so i am not going to stop writing about stuff and appreciating it. i guess i want you to know i don't feel the need to have everything i post about, i post about it to appreciate it and to think that it is nice (and maybe save it for future reference!).
how do you feel about stuff.
x.
p.s. i took the picture out of an open train door while traveling in india, i love how lush and green it looks.
I totally relate! I'm always blogging about "stuff", because they're beautiful and make life fun.... but at the end of the day, I really have too many, and then I realize that they're not completely necessary. Not a need, but a want! Helps to put things in perspective :)
ReplyDeleteOh I love "stuff" too, in my opinion its perfectly okay that stuff makes you happy as long as its not the ONLY thing you rely on for happiness! Its perfectly okay to enjoy material things as long as you keep in mind (and put to practice) real happiness comes from the people you love, and within. Stuff or no stuff.
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