Product Review

In 2010 I had a nice boyfriend, a nice corporate job and a nice apartment in Dallas, Texas. Then a friend was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given two years to live. This changed my whole outlook on life. I realized that it could be now or never to live life on my terms.

In the span of a few months, I left my lover, quit my job and gave away almost all of my possessions in order to attend graduate school for two years in Europe. At the age of 37, I was going to study something completely new, not for career enhancement but simply out of curiosity.

In those two years, I lived in four countries, with nothing but the contents of two suitcases. After graduating, I thought I would be happy to "re-clutter" a space I could call my own, but instead I found myself almost physically repelled by things which do not serve an essential purpose. And I remain nomadic. Enlightenment, as I know it now, can refer to both weightlessness and wisdom.

Beyond the dispensation of material objects, I have simplified my life by serving what I consider to be an essential purpose, myself. Unable to find a traditional job upon my return to the U.S., I began volunteering at a dementia daycare center in San Francisco. Contributing compassion is more important to me than any single thing, and so to accommodate my volunteer schedule I became a freelance writer. It has been twenty years since I received my undergraduate degree in journalism, but only now do I have stories worth sharing.

My minimalist transformation is one of them. I can't wait to tell you about it – and show you how you can do it, too!