My wife would tell you that I have a fondness for keeping way too much of what has passed through my hands. I would argue that I find it difficult to discard items that at some point in my life I deemed valuable enough to keep. (Hoarder, no. Official in charge of archiving valuable mementos of my life on earth, yes.)
Yet I'm being forced to come to terms during this experience that I have accumulated way more than I need over the past decade at work as I sift through my stuff. And this exercise is also teaching me that there is freedom in purging your life of stuff that you find you no longer need.
Randy Alcorn has a great quote about this topic, "Every increased possession adds increased anxiety on to our lives."
Possessions do add stress to our lives—because they need to be cleaned, organized, and cared for. Everything we own becomes our responsibility to deal with and take care of. Possessions are not passive, they are not just acquired, stored, and forgotten while they care for themselves. They require our attention. Everything we own takes up physical space in our home and mental space in our mind.
Which brings us to this less recognized truth, "Owning less means living more."
