Stuff. And Things.

In a  recent post over at Raptitude.com titled, "I Don't Want Stuff Anymore, Only Things" blogger David Cain started an experiment. For anyone unfamiliar with Raptitude, the blog's tagline nicely sums it up: it's about "getting better at being human." Cain is basically seeking (and from all indications, doing a pretty good job of finding) an easier, happier way of living. He occasionally starts up experiments, where he tries out new ideas he's had about getting happy. If you spend time thinking about things like this and are into self-improvement, I highly recommend it.

Anyway, this particular experiment is about clutter, or as Cain describes it, "stuff" vs. "things." The difference? "Things" are things we use and take care of (or should take care of) consistently and frequently. "Stuff" is stuff that sits around without much purpose. We don't use stuff, although we may constantly intend to use it in the future. We don't take great care of stuff, and it just kind of piles together in one big clutter, taking up space and making us feel messy.

My laptop is a thing.

The old broken cellphone that for some reason I still keep in a drawer in my room, is probably stuff.

Of course, the classifications get harder:

The old music books I used when I was learning to play guitar are probably stuff, but what about the tabs I've printed off the internet over the years?

I just finished John Green's An Abundance of Katherines and Marcus Zusak's I Am the Messenger. Both are fantastic books that I will undoubtedly read in the future because I kind of want to read them again right now. Books like those two are most certainly things, but what about the pile of books I keep telling myself I'm going to read, but never do? I got Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction for Christmas in 2009 and (no offense to Tom Clancy) I haven't yet. Can I honestly say I'm going to?

At the end of the blog post linked above, David Cain sets out his experiment as follows:

I’m going room-to-room, closet-to-closet, getting rid of anything I am not prepared to use, properly service, and give a permanent home. With all this technology, I have so much power at my disposal it’s the least I could do.

Once I’ve decided what stays, I have to give each item a proper home — a place where it is properly “away.” If I can’t find a good home for it, I am not worthy of owning it and must give it up.

Every night, I will put every single thing I own to bed.

I’m giving myself 30 days from today, which is more than enough time. You can track my progress on the experiment page, which will be up tomorrow.

I urge you to join me, and eliminate homelessness from your home. I imagine your poor, unemployed stuff would too, if it had a voice.

Inspired by Raptitude, I'm going to do run a similar experiment. I'm not going to be doing the exact same thing, (primarily: I still live with my parents, so I should probably limit myself to getting rid of only that which belongs to me,) and I'll go into significantly more detail in a later post, but the general idea will be the same.

My point for making this particular post at all (other than being too tired and not having enough time to go into huge detail about the experiment tonight) is basically just to put Raptitude and this experiment out there, and to put down, in writing, that I intend to do it.

Because now that it's in writing, I can't wimp out and decide not to do it. I'm committed.

- Brad