A Beginning; An Introduction.

Posted on April 27, 2008

Over the last few years, I’ve been experimenting with removing certain things from my life. Over the last few years, I’ve noticed that every time I selectively remove something from my life, I learn something about myself, improving my life in some regard.

Some things I remove as a experiment (like my Year Without Fiction). Other things I make a more permanent decision to remove (such as my former friends who were generally negative people to be around, or my nicotine addiction).

Whether the removal is temporary or permanent, I gain from it. I remove something from my life to make my life better in some way.

Recently (late last year) I changed country, and in doing so, shrugged off many of my material possessions, and my life took another step in a great feeling direction.

6 Months before changing country, I shifted my TV into a back room, because I just wasn’t using it. Before I left the country, I gave it away, and I haven’t replaced it.

About a week ago, I finished an exclusionary diet, where I didn’t partake of wheat, dairy, sugar, artificial sugar, caffeine, artificial preservatives, peanuts or orange juice (this was marketed as a Detox Diet, don’t ask me about the rationale for these exclusions). For me it was mostly an attempt to reset some of my attitudes towards food, and has been fairly successful.

I’m looking at my (personal) email no more than a couple of times a day.

I’ve got friends who eschew cooked food (part of the ‘Raw Movement’ that’s gaining momentum and visibility at the moment), friends who are getting rid of their paper books and going 100% electronic for all their reading, friends who avoid stability, staying in one place only long enough to generate sufficient funds to travel again and explore more of the world.

In our modern lives, there’s simply so much… of everything. We can reduce, minimise, remove or avoid much of it and, in doing so, actually improve our quality of life.

That’s what this blog is about.

Comments

Add New Comment

Subscribe:  This Thread

Go to:  My Comments ·  Community Page

Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

 

Add New Comment

Trackbacks

(Trackback URL)

• Recent Posts

  • Continuance, and the dangers of mono-focus.
  • The Pizza model of living.
  • Living the life you want - your way
  • Change
  • Is it an excuse or a reason?
• [Disclosure: I might get a small amount of money if you buy something from here. But I have read every one of these books, more than once, and I recommend them based on the value I believe they will provide to you, not the income they may provide to me.]

• About

  Sometimes, less is more. I firmly believe that you can improve your quality of life by carefully limiting what's included in it.
  
  This site is about living without certain things, either permanently or as an experiment. It's based in part on my own experiences and experiments, and partly on the experiences of others that I read about.
  
  It's also about things your life should not be without, those things that enhance the quality of your life.
  
  I hope you find value in what you read here, and that you're inspired to Live Without in order to live a little more.
• Search for: