Does this dress make me look like a person?

I have been getting rid of clutter from my house for almost a year.

One of the first things I read about minimalism was that there are several different phases to decluttering, which has ended up to be one of the things I think about and go back to a lot.  Each phase is supposed to get easier because you'll have (hopefully) learned more about why you hold on to things.  The initial decluttering of your house is extremely hard because you're struggling with your emotional attachment to things.  When you go through the phases you learn that the item doesn't = the memory.

What all of the blogs about minimalism failed to mention was when you get to the last phase; the phase where you're down to the things you 'love' or 'absolutely need', you're forced to sit with these things.  These things are YOU.  Or...what you have decided is you.  So, what happens when you decide you can't, or don't want to be defined by these things?

What about a cliche little plaque on your wall that says 'friends are forever but the blahblahblbhalbha' screams 'THIS IS SO ME!'?  Wouldn't you be being more honest if you were to make your own plaque, with your own thoughts?  Mine would say something like 'I use my back door because I don't want to have to talk to my neighbors' or 'I only check the mail when it gets dark and neighbors aren't awake so I don't have to bullshit with them'.  You are letting someone else define you every time something comes into your home.   If you have two panda bear figurines, you are now Joe Schmo who likes panda bears made in a factory in China.   I imagine myself in a empty white room standing there.  Then I imagine myself in a room with all kinds of knick-knacks around me.  Which is more me?  I, of course, think standing alone in a room is as close to 'me' as it can get.   I am me.  I am standing here.  This is me.  Talk to me.  I will tell you if I like panda figurines made in China.  If they are so important to me, I will definitely mention them.   I am every single thing you can know about me.  All right here.  In ME.

So what do I do with all this crap in my life that I've collected to show what kind of person I am?  The crap that ended up taking new life, picking up more crap like a fly strip along the way.   What the hell do I do with this mixed up bunch of shit that was supposed to represent who I was/am?    How do I get past the fact that I do not love cat figurines?  Somewhere something took a wrong turn and I turned into a cat figurine lover without even asking myself if I loved cat figurines?  WHO THE HELL AM I?


I am not saying that anyone should get rid of all of their possessions, but why do you have what you have?  Is it because when you look at it you feel a sense of happiness, calm, warmth or peace?   Or when you look at it do you think 'I like ladybugs.  I like red and black.  I am a ladybug collector.'?  Has all your crap BECOME what you are?

After some thought, I realized what is important to me is the feeling I get off of something.  If I look at a picture on the wall and feel happy, I should probably keep it.  Not just happy, but like, a deep sense of happiness.  Like, when I look at this picture it enriches my life. 



I've always heard that things don't define you, but uh, they sort of do.