Stripped…

There are many ways that you could take this title, and I’m sure ya’ll can follow me down just about any path by now.  This is going to be a short post, and sorry folks, no pics of Suzy Doozer stripped down!

I have done much thinking in the last month or so about the items that we work so hard to accumulate, and they end up taking us over.  The way that I will covet some new item of clothing, a book, a couch even.  As I have just typed the word covet, I am reminded that it is in fact a sin.  Easily, thanks to Google, I have learned that to covet something comes from Envy.  Who else remembers the movie with Brad Pitt that touched on all the deadly sins? I loved that movie for its rainy darkness, and the things that I learned from it, as well as seeing Kevin Spacey as sort of scary.  Envy, as a deadly sin is categorized along with Lust; lets face it, most of us are quite guilty of that.  So I have worked from Covet, to Envy to Lust, and why?  Material belongings.

I was recently captivated by a show on Bravo where participants have every single thing taken away from them.  I mean everything.  They ARE given food rations and toilet paper, so thank God for small miracles.  In this show the men and women are able to get one item back a day, by walking a mile round trip to a storage locker where their lives are packed into boxes.  The concept that I would have to pick something that was more important to me than another item quickly had my head spinning.  I thought at first that I would have to choose Waylon, and then his food, and then his toys. I was sure that I would be stinky and naked for at least a week in order to have my tiny side kick with me and happy.  I later found out that if the person has a pet in the house that they could keep the pet and any items they needed.  This was a HUGE relief.  Watching some of the episodes though, I was surprised to see how quickly people chose their cell phone, their, television, or their laptop.  I love my technology as much as the next gal, but I like to think I could survive a short 30 days without it.

I started thinking of the things that I would really want.  It was unanimous among all the people that I talked to about this that I would maaaaybe make it three days without some sort of something to clean my teeth with.  Past that, I really didn’t know what I would choose.  You are given the opportunity to really entertain yourself without all the chains of the things that we consider to be convenience items.  I lived five and a half years without a car at one point of my life, and I am still alive.  I was deployed with only small comforts of home here and there, and I think that made me a more well rounded person.  So really, what is 30 days.?

My sister and her family did something once (maybe more and I just am not aware) I think it was called No Spend November, where they didn’t spend money or buy things they didn’t NEED.  I cant remember all the rules now, but it seemed like a good concept to me, and something that I might need to consider.  I would have to get some food in my house first though, cause ya girl eats out way too much these days!  How long could I go without spending money that I didn’t have to?

I did promise no pics of my lovely self stripped down, but here is a verbal one.  I am telling you all now, I am not made up of my possessions. I am not defined by the things I have, or the amount of money in my bank account.  I can be stripped of it all, and I will still survive, and thrive.  What makes me is the heart that I have, the mind, the soul.  The personality that makes me sometimes laugh when I shouldn’t, ask questions that don’t have easy answers and almost always dance in the rain.   Those things can not ever be stripped, because I have worked and grown to make those things what they are.

I know this was a bit different than my normal posts, but I am constantly growing and changing and so will this blog.  Fear not, soon there will be food pics, and hilarious shenanigans with my pals, and Handy Fellow to be heard.  Until then, answer me this one thing.  Are your possessions yours; or do you belong to them?