Deliberate ownership
It's been (and continues to be) an interesting exercise in considering the things I own and if I want to own them. Unfortunately, the process of efficiently disposing of the things I no longer want to own takes time -- a scarce resource.1 On the other hand, it's clear that I haven't taken the time to be deliberate in many years. I'm mostly taking the time now because the hassle of moving to a bigger place is greater than the hassle of doing the filtering. Besides, there's something calming about reducing the material attachments.
Don't get me wrong, though, there has also been a certain amount of acquiring going on, just not nearly as much as the de-acquiring.
I haven't heard back on my reduced-hour proposal yet, but it's clear that I have the additional free time for at least the first month earmarked already.
1In particular, I have several hundreds of dollars worth of board games and Magic cards (the portions of my collections that I feel least attached to) that are valuable enough to be liquidated rather than discarded, but that will take time to find the right buyers.
Don't get me wrong, though, there has also been a certain amount of acquiring going on, just not nearly as much as the de-acquiring.
I haven't heard back on my reduced-hour proposal yet, but it's clear that I have the additional free time for at least the first month earmarked already.
1In particular, I have several hundreds of dollars worth of board games and Magic cards (the portions of my collections that I feel least attached to) that are valuable enough to be liquidated rather than discarded, but that will take time to find the right buyers.