Giving Myself A Pat On The Back & Learning Lessons In Minimalism

I think I ought to give myself an overdue pat on the back for soldiering on feeding and caring for my foster strays for nearly three years. I know some people who love animals but wouldn't want to get a pet for they couldn't come to grips with losing them.  Well, I think I underwent a lifetime's worth of losing my beloved strays and for that, I'm giving myself a pat on the back. That I was able to do it for as long as I did (I intend to continue when fate intervenes and give me the resources and the health to do so), I thought I'm underselling myself -- getting up when I'm a bit too sick to do anything much just to cook, prep food, greet my fosters, feed them, and spend extra time with them.

One other thing is the lessons I learned in moving to another place.  I spent nearly two decades in a place that's grown stuffy especially with the amount of things I've accumulated over that span (it's embarrassing to say the least)  It's a learning experience to fully understand what minimalists like Joshua Becker are advising -- spare other people your junk if something happens to you and you transition. Collection of books and music that mean so much to me are of little value to others.  I've even resorted to either giving away books to friends or outright throwing them into the trash since no one will take them. Or I have to fork over money just to have them disposed of. Even beloved CDs are of little value to others. In our family, my father passed on over three decades ago but I think his things are more or less intact inside his cabinet.  My mom passed on about five years ago but we haven't really sorted out her things. 

Then, there's the issue of clothes -- I don't really dress up anymore since I've working remotely for the past decade or so, so holding on to so many items of clothing that just collect dust doesn't make sense. Even basic appliances like my coffeemaker seem superfluous as I use a manual French press anyway.  Maybe, the COVID-19 lockdowns were not really necessary but the experience taught me me so much (Even more so that I contracted COVID-19 twice).

There's also the cleaning aspect -- books collect dust and mites easily, not to mention invite roaches to feed on their pages.  Knick-knacks are a bother to arrange after dusting their display surfaces. I can go on and on.  Just describing the list can be tiresome in itself so imagine moving all those stuff then rearranging them to another floor layout.  One more thing: with most furniture nowadays made from MDF, a move will quickly convince you that these don't take to house transfers kindly.  Hinges and screws come loose or undone; the legs on the TV stand got bent out of shape; the shoe rack pivot screws broke through the board frames. The only thing nice about them was the light weight (hardwood furniture are really meant for old houses where they would linger for a generation or two; you'd have to pay movers double or triple to move these heavy furniture).