Do You Need More Space... or Do You Just Need Less Stuff?
A handful of months ago, I let myself be momentarily deluded into thinking I “needed” an appliance garage & beverage station in the cottage kitchen.
I had a spot picked out - a secondhand, windowed cabinet that straddles the line between our multitasking entryway / dining room and the kitchen. (Family and friends would immediately have drinks in their hands upon arrival! Kitchen gizmos would be tucked away but easily accessible! Ooh la la!)
In the meantime, our carefully pared down collection of non-library books had nowhere to go, so I shoveled stacks of them into the cabinet as a quick fix.
Over time, guests sometimes popped by, and it turns out that they were quite happy to take the two whole extra steps (gasp!) into the kitchen for their drinks.
Our collection of small appliances remained small itself, because most kitchen gadgets are things we can most certainly live happily without.
And as it turned out, I quite liked the books exactly where and how they were.
We all want to slow down, and yet we’re routinely lured into the expertly marketed promise of efficiency and convenience. We lust after silly accessories for which we upend our wallets and overtax our bursting homes, ultimately coming to the conclusion that we need more space.
But we don’t need more space.
We just need less stuff.
And this planet is desperately counting on us to act accordingly.
