Simplify Your Life: Sentimental Items

October 31, 2009 7 Comments

Our lives are complicated.  Fortunately there are aspects which we are able to control.  In a mini-series called Simplify Your Life I will briefly discuss methods you can use in order to simplify your daily life.

"Letters From An Old Girlfriend" by lonedfx @ Flickr

Chances are you have a box tucked away in the corner of a closet filled with memorabilia from your life.  It is filled with years or even decades of Stuff from your past.  Love letters from your high school sweetheart, photos from Spring Break in Cancún, old diaries, locks of hair from your child’s first haircut.  All reminders of yesterday.  Each item is loaded with emotions.  You would never consider parting ways with any of the objects found in that box…until now!

Reaching a point where you are able to separate yourself from the emotional attachment and are able to let go of those old items is the hardest part.  These things are no longer simply an object, they contain real emotion.  Reading your old love letters brings back a flood of passion.  Sifting through your old photos turns into an emotional rollercoaster as you reminisce about the great times you had & the memories of loved ones passed.  Getting rid of this Stuff means forever losing those memories, those emotions.  It is like throwing out your identity, piece by piece.

How do you separate yourself from the emotional attachment these items possess?

When I was in high school I found an old cardboard box which I began filling with letters from my girlfriend.  Soon I was adding all sorts of sentimental items to the box.  There were birthday cards, small trinkets, photos of friends and from my travels.  It didn’t take long for the box to start filling up with my memories.

After dragging the box around with me for years and adding Stuff regularly, it was time for a bigger box.  As I began transferring my Stuff to its new home I realized that a few of the things contained in that old cardboard box no longer held relevance in my life.  I was able to let these things go but the majority of Stuff made it safely into the upgraded box.

It wasn’t until I began seeking a minimalist lifestyle that I dared to work up the courage to analyze the contents of that box from a more critical perspective.  I pulled the box out of its resting place in the corner of my closet and began clearing it out.  There were plenty of things that I had no problem getting rid of and there were other items that I felt like I couldn’t part with.  What I struggled with the most were the old love letters and the photos from my life.

As I sorted through the box I thought about my past, my relationship and I realized that these items were holding me back.  They were causing me to be stuck in the past.  How could I live today, love today, when my emotions were sealed inside of that box?  I tossed out all of the old love letters and separated myself from the last of the emotional strings still attached this old relationship.

The photos of my life, my family, my friends, my travels were next.  Everyone always says that photos are the most important thing in their lives, and mine included.  If I had to guess I probably had thousands of photos.  How could I possibly get rid of these?

I took the project head-on and started sorting the photos. The duplicates and photos of “nothing” were put into a pile that would ultimately find its way into the garbage.  The photos of memorable value were scanned and saved to my computer, then the majority were tossed along with the rest of the photos.  I decided to keep the photos from my childhood.  In order to protect the digital photos from being lost in case of a faulty computer, I uploaded them to an online host.  Now I still have the photos to look at and enjoy but they are not sitting in a box fading with time or at risk of being lost in a fire or other natural disaster.  I have access to them from any Internet connection.

I managed to reduce the amount of Stuff in my box to practically nothing.  I kept my Diploma & my Degree and a few random things which I was unable to part with but I managed to entirely eliminate all of the clutter and reduced the emotional baggage that box held.  It was a lot of work & I separated myself from a lot of memories, some good & some bad but in the end I feel free from my past, more able to live in the present rather than constantly clinging to the past.

Read more about How to Let Go of Possessions.

Filed under Simplify Your Life

Goal Update October 29, 2009

October 29, 2009 Leave a Comment

The last time I wrote a Goal Update was in May.  That means that I have five months to account for.  No doubt so much has happened since then & I have accomplished much.

Here are the goals that I knocked off my list since the last update:

Finish Associate Degree, Visit Meteor Crater, Climb Mount Saint Helens, Shoot a Machine Gun, Bungee Jump, Solve the Rubik’s Cube, Skydive, Go Backpacking & Sleep Under the Stars.

Reviewing this list helps me realize just how much I have done in the past five months, it is really quite amazing in my opinion.  It also helps underscore the importance of having goals in life and what a person can accomplish when they have a focal point to work with.

What about the goals that I am currently working on?  How are they going?  How is the 100 in 25 Challenge turning out?

Right now I am working on a couple of major lifestyle changes; eating healthy & exercising regularly.

I’ve really kicked things up a notch recently with eating healthy.  When I first decided that I wanted to change my diet I thought I could do it slowly, eating the food that was already in the apartment and replacing it over time with more healthy options.  What I found was that this approach wasn’t working.  It wasn’t working because I didn’t have a plan.  I was not doing any meal planning or shopping for specific items to make healthy meals.  While I would try to make better choices, it didn’t take long for old habits to return and by the time we left the grocery store we almost always had a lot of Stuff that we shouldn’t have.

I am working to create a more extensive list of meals which I can prepare at home.  Finding recipes that both myself and my girlfriend will enjoy is somewhat of a challenge but slowly but surely we are adding things to our menu.  Most recently I made Bacon Wrapped Chicken with Blue Cheese and Pecans.  We really enjoyed this dish & despite the extra effort that is required to prepare it, we’ll definitely be having it again in the future.

I’ve also started posting photos of my meals on my Fan Page for the readers to see and comment on.  I find that this provides some incentive to eat healthy; when I feel the eyes of world on me, so to speak.  For now, this external motivation is what I need to help encourage me to make smart food choices.  No doubt there will be pizza nights in the future but so long as I am making good decisions more frequently I am okay with that.  We all should indulge once in a while or else we’ll find ourselves bingeing and regretting it later.

Exercising has been difficult for me.  As I mentioned in my 100 in 25 Days Challenge post, I am either really pushing hard or not at all.  I made it my goal to be able to do 100 push ups in 25 days in order to prompt myself into the exercising mentality once again.  How is it going?  I think things are going very well.  I did fail to do push ups on Wednesday.  I was tired and didn’t feel like doing them after being on campus for 9 hours.  I moved past my transgression and am looking forward to the future.  I’m halfway through this challenge and things are actually going better than I thought they would by this point.  After the challenge I really hope to find the motivation to start exercising more frequently.  My goal is 3-4 times a week for an hour each day.  I can get there again!

Another goal that I am working on is to earn my Bachelor Degree.  I am halfway through my first semester at the University and am doing very well.  My lowest grade in any of my classes is a B, otherwise I am earning A’s in all of my other classes.  I have an appointment today to meet with my advisor to schedule classes for next semester and I am concerned about a couple of classes; Statistics, Chemistry & Technical Writing.  They all sound challenging and I will have to work my ass off.

What about the future?  What is next?

I highlighted 7 more goals that I hope to accomplish by May 18, 2010.  None of them seem overly difficult, though sleeping on a park bench in a big city will be a rather uncomfortable goal to accomplish.  I still have some lingering goals from my last effort to meet a deadline such as paying off my car and visiting Eldon, Iowa.  Some of these goals will unfortunately not be met by the deadline I set, while others will be.  Stay tuned!

Filed under Goal Updates

Two Guys on a Journey: Part Two

October 23, 2009 4 Comments

Recently I wrote an article titled “Two Guys on a Journey” detailing the adventure of ascending Half Dome with my friend Noah.  Despite feeling like we were facing a real chance of dying that day, our adventure didn’t stop there.  In fact, the hike to Half Dome was only a fraction of what we hoped to be able to accomplish in Yosemite.

After a day of rest we headed to Hetch Hetchy Valley where we were to hike 7 miles to Rancheria Falls.  This area has a reputation for seclusion and tranquility, exactly what each of us were looking for.  We filled our hydration packs, brought along extra Gatorade (a lesson from our experiences at Half Dome), packed more food than we needed & hit the trail.

We hadn’t even left the parking lot before we ran into a bear and her cub no more than 30 feet away.  Taken a bit off guard, we weren’t sure what to do.  Should we keep walking?  Try to take a picture?  By the time we had a chance to react, the bears were gone.  Wow!  It was such an amazing experience to be so close to the wildlife but now I was contemplating the safety of sleeping on the ground in the middle of nowhere with no tent.  The signs at the trailhead reaffirmed our concern about bears and also brought to our attention that this was rattlesnake and cougar territory.  Lucky us!

It didn’t take long for the sun to warm the valley and soon we were feeling the effects of the heat.  Seven miles sounded like nothing after hiking 17 miles a couple of days before but after a few miles we were getting worn down.  We took a much needed break along a tributary to the reservoir where we took off our boots and relaxed at the side of a pool.  We watched the fish as they swam around in the water.  I laid back across a boulder, closed my eyes and breathed deep.  The only sounds were those created by nature; the running water, the wind gently flowing through the trees.  I was so at peace that I fell asleep on that rock, only for a few minutes but those few minutes were the most refreshing and fulfilling moments of the entire trip.

We put our boots back on, strapped on our backpacks and set out for the last couple of miles of our hike to Rancheria Falls.  We were closer than we had expected and within an hour we had reached our backcountry campsite.  We dropped our packs and headed out to find the river.  When we reached the water, excitement coursed through our bodies.  It was so hot and we were so tired, a dip in the cold river was just the thing we needed to rejuvenate our body and soul.  We swam, relaxed on the rocks and lived exclusively in that moment.

Eventually we decided to explore upriver to check out the lay of the land, to see what else we could find.  What we found was beyond either of our expectations.  As we came around the last bend in the river I heard Noah squeal with delight.  I laughed, not knowing what he was seeing but when I finally caught a glimpse of what he was looking at I couldn’t believe it.  We had just found the perfect waterfall for Noah to accomplish his goal of bathing under a waterfall.  We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, standing under the crushing force of the waterfall and relaxing at the water’s edge.  This was paradise.

We returned to camp just before the sun went down and built a fire to cook some food.  We sat around the fire eating ramen noodles and talking about nothing.  We boiled water so we had drinking water for the next day and eventually called it a night.  As I crawled into my sleeping bag, I looked up at the stars burning brilliantly in the night sky.  I really expected it to be much darker in the middle of nowhere.  I closed my eyes, satisfied with what I had accomplished that day & with knowing that I was knocking off my goal of sleeping under the stars.

Filed under Yosemite

Hundred Goal’s Challenge: 100 in 25

October 16, 2009 3 Comments

"Running #2" by lumilon @ Flickr

Motivating myself to exercise has been a huge challenge.

My motivation to exercise tends to come in waves of pure determination followed by long periods of lethargy.  Much of my summer was spent pushing my physical abilities in a multitude of ways from climbing Mount Saint Helens, Angel’s Landing and Half Dome to going on 70 mile bike rides to exercising so hard on the elliptical machine that the sweat would pool beneath me on the gym floor.  Then, like a flip of a switch, I fell into a routine of sloth.  I seem to be incapable of settling into a routine somewhere between these two extremes.

For a while I am unaffected by my laziness but soon I am feeling guilty for not exercising.  I get angry and then disgusted in myself.  When I begin to feel this way, the switch flips again and I find myself at the other extreme where I push myself as hard as my physical limits will allow.

I suspect that I am not alone in my battle to find middle ground in my life.  While I am currently struggling to find balance in an exercise routine, I have struggled in the past with finding balance in my finances and other aspects of my personal life.  We all have areas in life where finding balance would benefit each of us.  Where is your life out of balance?

In order to get myself back into the routine of exercising I’ve decided to create a challenge for myself.  The challenge is 100 in 25, in other words, 100 push ups (at once) within 25 days.  In order to accomplish this I will start out by doing 4 push ups and increasing it daily by an increment of 4.  By the 25th day I will be up to 100 push ups.  At least that is the plan.  This gives me a deadline to work against and a definite goal to work towards.  Whether or not this will lead to further exercise is obviously unknown at this point but what I do know is that I am not making any progress thinking about going for a run or thinking about doing 100 push ups.

While this challenge is a challenge towards myself, I encourage you to join me.  Maybe doing 100 push ups isn’t your goal.  Maybe your goal is to pay off the remaining balance on your credit card.  Maybe your goal is to run 10 miles without stopping.  Maybe your goal is to repair your relationship with your spouse or children.  Whatever your goal, define what you want to accomplish (make it challenging!  100 push ups isn’t a walk in the park) and stick with it for 25 days.  At the end of those 25 days, if you have worked towards your goal everyday I can assure you that even if you didn’t accomplish your goal, you’ve at least made notable progress towards success.

Join me on the Hundred Goals Message Board to share your goals and discuss your progress & challenges during the next 25 days!

Filed under Challenges, Exercising, Motivation

A Deadline Approaches

October 7, 2009 5 Comments

"Rusty Old Car - EXPLORED" by சிலம ்பொலி&qu ot; ARUN @ Flickr

I’ll admit, I love my car.

When I turned 16 I didn’t have a driver’s license, let alone a car.  I didn’t need one.  Living in a small community, everywhere I needed to go was within walking distance.  On winter mornings after a snowstorm I would have to trudge two miles through the woods in knee deep snow at 6 am in the dark to get to work.  I know that sounds like one of those stories your parents used to tell you about how they had to walk 10 miles to school, uphill both ways but I’m serious.  This was just the way things were.  I never thought anything of it & looking back, I kind of miss it in some ways.

When I was 15 years old I had an old copy of Lowrider magazine and I remember admiring all of the old cars but I was especially fond of the Impala with its huge fins.  It had class & attitude.  From that point on I knew that when I did finally buy a car it was going to be an Impala.  It wasn’t until I was 23 years old that I finally decided to buy a car.

I searched the local dealerships for the car of my dreams & was lucky to find it almost immediately.  It was a 2003 Impala, not exactly the ’59 I had lusted over for all those years but still a beautiful car.  It was dark blue and had everything I wanted; a spoiler, moon roof, power everything, a CD player.  It was used but the mileage was low and the price seemed affordable.  The salesman didn’t even have to attempt to sell me the car, I was already asking where to sign.

In the excitement of the situation, I was more concerned with going for a drive than I was with the terms of the contract.  I was scratching my name there and initialing here, here and here faster than they could turn the pages.  The only thing I cared about was whether I could afford the monthly payments and sure enough, I could.  Before long I would be out on the open road enjoying my new car.

It didn’t take long to realize the power I had just bequeathed upon myself.  I could go anywhere and see anything I wanted.  All I had to do was get in & drive, and that is exactly what I did.  I drove my car all over the country.  My first trip was to Colorado for a week.  Then I drove to Niagara Falls one weekend.  Then to Washington, DC for a few days.  New York City.  California.  British Columbia.  I went everywhere in my car.  We were a match made in heaven.

As much as I love my car, stupidity nearly caused me to lose it.  In the midst of my financial meltdown I was unable to make my car payments and was being threatened with repossession.  The ticket to my freedom was in serious jeopardy of being just a memory of the “good ole days”.  Those payments that I thought I could afford looked good on paper but weren’t so realistic when I had to pay for rent, utilities, food & all the other things that I wanted in life.  Luckily I was able to fix my financial problems with a little bit of sacrifice & a lot of overtime.

In the process of overcoming my financial crisis I was learning a lot about money.  I learned about interest rates & decided to check to see what mine was on my car loan.  I was shocked at the 12.99% APR typed neatly across the loan agreement.  I pulled up my account history online and soon realized that the payments I had been making for the past two years were mostly being applied towards interest charges.  By the time I would finish paying this loan off I could have practically bought a second Impala with the money I wasted in interest charges.  Luckily I was able to refinance my loan through a local credit union at half the interest rate.

I currently have a balance of $3,670.66 and earlier this year I made a goal of having this debt paid off entirely by November 18, 2009.  With 6 weeks left to reach this deadline I am beginning to question the reality of this goal.  Is it possible?

I guess we will see on November 18th!!!

Filed under Goal Updates, Goals, Life

Goal #4) Skydive

October 2, 2009 9 Comments

Any list of life goals seems incomplete without the requisite goal of skydiving.  Nearly every list of goals I’ve ever read has included it.  The Bucket List, a movie about two men who set out to accomplish a lifetime of living after near death experiences, incorporated this stereotypical goal into the storyline.  Skydiving has the allure of being extreme & it makes a list of life goals exciting just by including it.  I wonder if people include it on their lists for this purpose only, I know I was guilty of this when it made my list.

When I moved to the Minneapolis area I learned of a skydiving company within fifteen minutes of my new hometown.  Having a place to accomplish this goal so close to home proved to be a mix of excitement and fear.  The fear arose from the fact that I had put that goal on my list to add sex appeal.  When I began this list, I didn’t have a clear understanding that I would really set out to accomplish any of the things I was writing down.  Boy, was I wrong!

Writing my list of 100 Goals was the catalyst my life needed.  The first goal I knocked off was to start a website.  Had I named it anything other than Hundred Goals, I may have eventually ignored my list but that isn’t the way things turned out.  By sharing my goals with an audience I felt compelled to push myself towards accomplishing them rather than ignoring them.

In less than ten months I have accomplished 15 of my 100 Goals & added 15 more to the list.  I still have 100 Goals but since I started pursuing my ambitions, I have felt more alive than ever before in my life.  As Lester Burnham said so succinctly in American Beauty:

“I feel like I’ve been in a coma for the past twenty years.  And I’m just now waking up.”

I believe that following your goals, however lofty they may seem, can be the beginning of the life you have always only dreamt of.

Earlier in the summer I highlighted a group of goals which I wanted to accomplish by November 18, 2009.  One of those goals was to skydive.  When I highlighted it, I had no idea that I would actually find myself jumping from an airplane 12,000 feet above the surface of the earth only a couple of months later, yet that is exactly the way things happened.

On Sunday, September 27, 2009 I had an appointment with the sky.  A friend had been the motivator that I needed to complete this goal.  A few weeks prior we had a conversation about skydiving.  She wanted to jump and I agreed to jump with her.  As the day neared, my anxiety built.  Saturday night brought restless sleep.  As I tried to sleep I could feel my body tense up with nervousness.  I tried to relax but found myself tense again only moments later.  What was I getting myself into?

The morning of my jump I felt my anxiety begin to melt away.  When we arrived the plane was just dropping a group of skydivers & having the opportunity to watch a few groups come & go helped to alleviate my apprehensions.  I could do this, it might even be fun!

After signing our lives away (literally) we got harnessed up and were soon on our way into the sky.  The ascent to 12,000 feet felt like a lifetime and as I looked out the window watching the objects on the ground grow smaller and smaller I heard someone say “Halfway!”  Halfway?  Really?  I already felt a million miles away!  A few moments later the plane began leveling off and slowing down.  The door on the side of the airplane opened and in an instant my girlfriend was out of the door, plunging towards the earth at 120 miles per hour.

I was next.  Given the situation, I was remarkably calm.  As I approached the door my anxiety welled up inside of me but before I could respond I was falling out of the sky.  A few seconds after exiting the airplane we leveled off and all of my fear and anxiety disappeared.  The feeling of falling vanished and was replaced with a sense of floating through the air.  The wind rushed past me and as I fell I felt a sense of freedom that I had never experienced before.  I felt alive, invigorated.  Sooner than I expected (approximately 30 seconds) I was tapped on my shoulders; my sign to hang on to the harness because the parachute was going to be opened.

As the parachute unfurled and our pace slowed dramatically, I was able to enjoy the scenery around me.  It was beautiful.  I felt so far away from everything yet so in touch with life.  We caught up with my girlfriend and for a while we floated alongside her, bumping canopies as she blew me a kiss.  This was the most amazing thing I had ever done in my life.

Soon we would come in for our landing and all celebrate the success of our jump.  Being back on the ground was a reassuring feeling but I can honestly say that I would have done it a hundred times that day if I could have.

Since many people have skydiving on their list of life goals, I am going to organize a day next summer where readers of Hundred Goals can join me for a day of skydiving in the Minneapolis area.  If you are interested in being a part of this group, please become a Fan of Hundred Goals where I will keep everyone updated on the event.

To see photos of my skydive, click here!  To watch a video of my jump, click here!

Filed under Accomplishments, Goals

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