The Value of Old Things
You never know how much stuff you have until you move.
I just moved to a new apartment and it’s such a weird process to re-learn who you are and where you stuff goes and how you function in a new space.
The first few days are so important to begin new patterns the way you want because you will repeat patterns. I’m very conscious of where I put my things and how I walk around the living room because I don’t want to get stuck into patterns too early. There’s still time to move things around and get things how I want, but previously when I've moved, I throw something in a corner and it stays like that until I move out. I know I have to be conscious of how I function and what patterns I want to perpetuate.
But the thing I really wanted to write about is silverware holders. You know that thing that divides the spoons from the forks? I was washing my old one because it had been sitting at the bottom of a Rubber Maid box for years and was gross. I was washing it thinking of all the people who would throw this mundane thing away and choose to buy a new one at Target. Because I was one of them.
I was thinking “wouldn’t it be nice to get a brand new shiny white silverware holder for my drawer"… where I’ll never see it. But I’ll know it’s there and I’ll know how new it is.
The newness of things makes us feel good. Like we are accomplishing something important. We are replacing the old with the new and that feels good for some reason, I'm not sure why.
But as I was hand washing this silverware holder, I was looking at it and realizing how cool it was that it was old. I wondered how old it was, who used it first, how many years it’s been sitting in a kitchen drawer somewhere holding silverware.
It’s amazing when you think of the things that stay with us for years that we never think about.
And it's such a useful tool!
But for a second, I wanted to throw it away.
All those years of its useful-ness could have been sitting in a landfill starting tomorrow for the next 1,000.
It wasn’t grimy or broken - reasons that would justify it to be thrown away. It was just beige, so it was obviously from a time before Target existed. I thought for a second about throwing it away and getting a new one just because of its beige-ness. Being beige was its crime. But being the wrong color or not in style isn’t a bad thing. But for a split second my brain was telling me it was. That I needed to get the new thing.
And I think the reason I thought that was because of all the things we are being sold online. Everything you see is an ad to get you to buy something. So, of course my brain thought this isn’t good enough. To be better, I should get a brand new white one. Then I will feel better about myself.
I had to catch myself and see the value in the old and the worn. Yet the still useful.
What's even weirder is that I love old things! I LOVE them. My new apartment is filled with lamps and chairs and clothes from the 70's. But everyone who spends time online is succumb to the shiny object syndrome that is Instagram.
So I love my old things. And even though it seems like I have a lot of things, they are all well-used and they have history. I can remember where and when I bought my things or where I acquired things from someone else. Not much is new. And I like that.
And so… after writing and boring you about silverware holders, this is my overall meaning behind Slow Life Revolution:
To think about where all our things come from and where they go after we use them.
To think about what you spend your time doing and consuming.
To promote a simpler and slower way of life, out of the fast lane of over-consuming products and shows and music as fast as we can so we stay up to date with everyone else.
SLR is a rejection of fast fashion, fast food and fast delivery. It’s a rejection of living life online and being culturally relevant and knowing about the latest viral video. It’s about de-conditioning the socialization that’s happening online and it’s about learning who you are and what you like separate from how it appears you should be online.
That’s why I focus a lot about social media - because working and existing online is a big part of most of our lives and it can influence us heavily. But really my goal with SLR is about knowing who you are and how to manage to be that person in this world, with so many things and opinions and ways to be. It’s hard to sort through it all.
This is also my goal in life and… I’m not so great at getting there. I go on Instagram binges, I overspend at Target and buy things I don’t need and sometimes I just want to eat at Culvers.
So we’re going together. The way is to move away from all the outside stimulation is towards yourself.
In this day and age, it is revolutionary to slow down. It can be hard to find the brakes, so having community who is going thru the same thing and rooting for you helps. I'm rooting for you!