Living Light: Clothes

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Yes, I'm about to blog about "owning less things", and you're about to roll your eyes with "Oh, here we go, another person announcing how she recently found a light, or fell into a fad, and how it changed her life." You're most probably right.

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I am not rich (yet), so owning less things is not that hard to do*. But this has become a growing interest of mine: having a small and effective wardrobe, stripping away clothing items that

• haven't been worn for a long time, and let's admit it, will probably never be worn again no matter how hard I try to convince myself otherwise. (Example: five-year-old top last worn four years ago that I still keep because "I'm just waiting for the right time to wear it again. Plus, it's so preeety!")
• do not make me happy (anymore).
• are not really needed / don't have much function / are excess / you know, part of the preparation in case I go to space or fishing, or get invited to the Oscars.

(*I've been in situations where I couldn't even afford to buy a pair of socks :).)

I'm sure I'll eventually win a million dollars for it, but for now this small wardrobe makes it easier for me to dress, organize and pack -- and makes me a little saner:

• My mind is no longer racing, thinking of what shoes I need to have next.
• I've stopped pretending that I'm paying attention to the meal and coffee and company in front of me when my mind is actually thinking about the top that I was contemplating of buying an hour ago.
• I no longer have these episodes of running frantically to three other stores looking for my size because the first one has run out of it.

This is a work in progress of over a few years, one that I was never convinced I'd do for long. And now I'm down to about 100+ pieces of clothing items, including things like suitcase, accessories, sportswear and day dresses I wear at home. (I didn't set a number, I let go of things that I don't want, and it left me with that.)

I still have a few items that I rarely wear or still keep for sentimental reason, though, because I'm also practical and a human. Example: a wool jacket for cold-weather travelling, a knapsack (seriously, I might go hiking next week), several pairs of traditional wear for kenduri etc and a bracelet that my mother made me.

While I imagine I probably need to add / replace some of them in the next one year -- because practical and human -- I promise I'll stop this crap if it stops making me happy, or once I found myself a real purpose in life.