What would you do if you lost all your possessions?

I haven’t lost everything, but I have drastically pared down a number of times. Here is what I’ve leaned. some things you miss and remember fondly. Most things can be replaced, and many things don’t need to be. Life moves on. You change, your life changes, styles change.

I once had the perfect pair of clogs. I wore them out. The soul of one broke, and couldn’t be repaired. If I could buy those same shoes today I would. But clogs have not been part of my life for years. I only started missing them lately because I would like a new pair. If I still had them, they would be shabby and I wouldn’t feel good wearing them. Possessions are a little like this. With the exception of heirlooms.

Some things can’t be replaced. Photographs, your grandmother’s teapot, a piece of furniture built by an ancestor. Vintage Christmas ornaments, a dress you bought on vacation in France… Possessions with memories are the hardest to part with. Lost, they become memories themselves.

But you go on. You buy what you need as you need it. You buy new. You move on. Life doesn’t stop. You actually evolve. There is something liberating about not having to drag so many possessions through my life. Eventually we all die and no one values our stuff like we did. That’s why there are estate sales.

What would I do? I’d start over. I’d be more discerning and use less. I’d decorate differently. I think I’d aim to live differently. More intentionally. more consciously. Simpler.