Too much Stuff. Goal! The root of all (evil) shopping.

 One more thing, that I will separate into its own post, so I can call myself caught up on posts 😄

In an attempt to make sure I'm prepared for the trip, I've been doing a bunch of shopping. Some things I'm getting will make a big difference in comfort level for the trip. Some will make a small difference, and some are just things I've had on my list of "things to get someday" that I thought, well, I'm doing my shopping now anyways, lets just do this one as well.

However, somewhere along the line, I reached saturation levels, and then went beyond them. Like eating to much, to much consumerism, to much stuff, leads to feeling sick. Like a stomach ache for the soul. I'm reminded of an interesting scientific finding that I recently read about, that people who consciously choose to be ascetic, that is, very minimal in their possessions, tend to have higher levels of happiness and satisfaction with life. I can viscerally feel the truth of that. In addition to how much of my precious time it takes up. Not just the shopping, but the having, the sorting and putting away, the checking to make sure they work, the returning when they don't work. It's a lot of time, and that is time I'm not spending doing actually important things. Stuff is just, at best, a support for doing the things that actually matter to you. When they take up the time that you would be spending doing those actually important things, they are a net negative.

It's tricky to figure out where that line is. It is a bit of a intermittent reward scheme, in that sometimes you find something that works just right and you are really glad to have it. But many times, it's stuff you don't actually want, or never really use.

Perhaps this is just the same reaction of someone who's OD'ed on dessert over the holiday season and swears off sugar and overeating ever again, only to be back at it the next month, or week. But I am feeling a strong desire to seriously downsize. Moving is the perfect time to do it, since I'm not on a strict timeline, and not yet being employed is also the perfect time to do it, as it can take a lot of time to sort through all the stuff that's been accumulated.

All that said, there is still a thing or two I should probably get, though it's been nice to take a break from that to clean up the house, go through mail, send some time sensitive correspondence, and generally do other things that need to get done. One of the problems is, this is such short notice, that if I do want to get something, I need to do it now, in case it takes a while to ship to me. Having shoes that are comfortable for large amounts of walking is a definite plus for my kind of vacation, for example. On the other hand, I have shoes that are probably sufficient, if not great. Is it worth it to spend my time looking? Is it worth it to spend my time researching if there even is anything like what I want (I'm hard to find shoes for, since I like zero drop and flexible souls that let me feel the ground.) I'm leaning strongly towards 'no' and that feels like a relife, so it's probably correct.

Here's an interesting thing I noticed as I inquired into what was the deal with all the shopping I do: there's a fundamental sense of not being enough, that manifests in a specific way, that makes me want to make sure I'm 'prepared.' If I can just accept the fact that there is nobody I need to 'be' and I'm ok just as I am, reality is ok just as it is, then the compulsion fades and I'm left with contentment and appreciation for the moment.

Let's take that and stick it in my new soon to be flux-updated character sheet. (Gamer reference. Your 'character sheet' is a piece of paper (or a digital spreadsheet or such) that lists all your strengths, weaknesses, character traits, skills, and such.)

Alright! I'm caught up. Goooooal! as they say in soccer.

See you next time,

with gratitude, enjoyment and enthusiasm.

-Isaac

More stuff going on! Mentorship, Goals, and Consciously becoming who you want to be.

 Ah yes, I forgot to mention two other things, one, apparently it's much easier to re-write elements of our personalities and personal narratives, when we are in a state of flux, which happens when we have big life changes, like moving somewhere new, starting a new job or school, etc.

I'm about to have two of those, one really big one that is temporary, Japan, and another less extreme one that will be long term, moving into a new house. I'm planning on taking some of my time now, to think about what I might like to change about myself. Which leads me into my second point, in a few days I'm going to meet with someone who is very successful, teaching older kids in a way that is adjacent to what I think I'd like to be doing. He's going to be mentoring me. At least in the short run, with long run being determined by how that goes. One of the things he said, after responding that I could prepare by thinking about goals I'd like for near and distant time horizons, was that he was going to help me figure out the person I needed to become, to achieve those goals.

This is maybe a bit of an esoteric point, but I find it fascinating, that in genearl the best research on behavior change, healing and transformation on a mental plane, all point to identity as the most powerful factor. I've been interested in habit change for a long time, but a lot of what habit change is good for is facilitating identity change. Who we think we are, subconsciously as much (or more than) consciously, is perhaps the most strong factor within our control for influencing our behaviour in an automatic way.

So, this is a big question moving forward: what do I want in life, specifically? In work, love, life in general. And who do I need to be, to achieve those goals?

Fascinating questions. I'll try and keep you posted on the results.

OK, only one to go and I'm caught up!

-I Out

So much going on!

 Alright, some rather larger than normal announcements.

First and foremost, Japan just announced it's opening its borders to tourists, so Suzannah and I are going on our long postponed honeymoon to Japan! It's happening real soon! Like, in two weeks 😮

We'll be gone from October 16th through November 6th, so if I don't respond quickly to emails or texts, this is why. As for right now, I'm trying to get ready for the trip, researching where I might like to go and what I might like to do, so we can plan our itinerary a bit and find some hotels, or buy tickets, if there are things we need to do ahead of time. I'm hoping to have some time and flexibility to be spontaneous and explore and have adventures as well. We've gotten lots of good recommendations already, since many of Suzannah's workmates are from Japan (and in some way intersecting with the travel and tourism industry.)

So, that's awesome. I'm also trying to learn as much Japanese as I can in the few weeks I have before I leave (and I'll continue while I'm there. I should be able to do some immersion learning, right?)

Also, the house is finalized. We did the back and forth dance and inspection etc., and things seem pretty much settled. Closing set for a week or so after we get back from the Japan honeymoon.

So... a lot going on. As I said in the beginning.

I don't know that I'll have anything to top that until I get back and hopefully have some awesome stories to share. Suzannah is going to be writing an article about the trip for her work, so I'm planning to help out by writing down some of my experiences as well, along the way. It also means there's more incentive to take good and copious pictures, so we may have more pictures that our normal sparse documentation. I prefer having the experience to recording it, but I'm also coming to appreciate how much gets forgotten if it doesn't get recorded in some way. Just enough pictures to jog my memory, of things I want to remember.

OK, that's it for this post. Another week has passed, so I'm still two behind :D

-I Out