I've got a serious case of Itchy Brain.

So our stuff has arrived .........blah blah blah

A few months ago, seven or eight actually, the Mrs and I were having what some would call a "slightly heated" discussion... the  reason for this was that we had vastly differing viewpoints on what should be packed. When the process of getting quotes for the packing and shipping of our worldly possessions to Ireland began, we were intent on sending the whole kit and caboodle which included our two boisterous little pugs Jack and George. This would have been a monstrously bad idea, thankfully sanity prevailed and we decided to downscale.

The thought of down-scaling to a hoarder like me is not easy, there is a valid reason why i hang onto each item and I will keep most things I deem might in the next century come in handy, from screws to used batteries, so it was life changing for me to start going through my things and either sell, give away or simply throw away. I went through waves of panic and anxiety, all for a few meaningless items, thankfully there was no shortage of people who would gladly pay for our stuff and some even happier to get it for free.

While we were going through our things we had loads of little mini arguments because one of us was intent on keeping some or other arbitrary item, I mean I know for sure I will at some point use all seven thousand used batteries and all the random key rings that I have . The reality though is very different. we don't need all these things we have, we like to surround ourselves with stuff, things that we think will be nice to have or will make us happy but they invariably will end up in the same drawer as the batteries and key rings, we would be far better off spending that energy on someone instead of something. 

In the end after the boxes, all 152 of them, were marked, labelled and packed in the truck I signed the paperwork and our stuff was on its way, I walked back inside to an empty house and looked over at our wonderful domestic worker Jeneath who was standing in our kitchen, with tears in her eyes, she said to me "it’s finished now",  I sat down in the middle of the floor and felt more overwhelmed right then, than I ever remember having felt before, for us it was finished, it was the end of the road. I realized then and there how a decision made with the best intentions can often have far reaching implications.

Three months and a criminally large amount of money later the email I had been waiting for arrived in our inbox, our stuff would be arriving in two days, and thankfully on a Friday morning. I took the day off and started the arduous process of unpacking. I was really excited and i knew it would be a lot of hard work, but what I wasn't prepared for was the way I felt about all these things, for most of the time we were waiting I imagined opening the boxes and hugging my stuff, not able to decide what to play with first. (I would have looked properly stupid hugging my bicycle), alas it wasn't the case. Not one of them was worth the hours of thought and planning we put into getting them here. It was all very anti climatic and if you ask me a complete and utter waste of money.

The unpacking lasted for an entire weekend, the kids and Mrs T worked like Trojans, and by Trojans I mean we bribed and begged them the entire time, and by Sunday it was mostly sorted and packed away. well except the 10 or so boxes labelled WTF were we thinking!!, these boxes are filled to capacity with utter rubbish, then the 7 boxes of clothing we sent to charity,  things a mere three months ago we valued and couldn't live without, it just shows how fickle human nature is. although i do think it is the first time in history that someone from Africa has paid good money to ship things to a charity in Ireland. How the tables have turned!!.

All this has made me realize that I place way too much value on insignificant things, our lives are so short and we only get one shot at it. The time goes by way too fast. And once we use it up, we can’t ever get it back. Each and every second is valuable. Possessions steal our time and energy. They require unending maintenance to be cleaned, fixed, replaced, and in the end disposed of.  They steal our precious attention, our time, and energy and we don’t even notice it… not until it’s too late anyway.

Charles Darwin once said,

“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”

He couldn't have been more right, our lives deserve better, we deserve better. Joy, happiness, and fulfillment are found in the invisible things in life, like, love, hope, peace, and friendship. And they are not on sale at your local retail store. People, who live their lives in pursuit of possessions, and I'm definitely guilty of that, are never content. They always desire newer, faster, or bigger because material possessions can never satisfy us fully.  We need to be reminded that our life is far too valuable to waste chasing them. And we should find more joy by choosing to pursue “better,” rather than “more.”

So be crazy. Be stupid. Be silly. Be weird. Be whatever you want to be. Because life is too short to be anything but happy.

Garreth