Here's the plan: get to know myself, make decisions, & build a tiny house! HUZZAH!
IT IS TIME TO DECIDE!
Have you ever thought about the word "Decide"? It is both a violent word, and also, a word that brings peace! What a dichotomy!?!? In English it means "to make a judgment or determine a preference; come to a conclusion." Well that's no surprise, but the etymology of the word is where it gets interesting! The Latin form "dēcidō" is broken down between "dē-" which means "down from", and "cadō" or "caedō" Which means "I fall" or "I cut". And together they mean "I die, fall dead" or "I beat severely, cudgel soundly, thrash." So when we REALLY look at this word it means "I die", or "I kill". So, now you're like "WOW Thanks Paul. Now I won't be able to sleep tonight! How in the heck does this have anything to do with PEACE?!?!"
Well, I am just thrilled you asked! You see it comes when the word goes into practice. When you start actually making decisions you start to CUT OFF things in your life. So where before, you had a lot of options, NOW you have at least forced yourself to commit to the few things that you haven't Beat severely, cudgeled soundly, thrashed, or killed.
But, now that we see the sheer violent power of the word decision, we know that we cannot just wield it stupidly or we'll make the wrong decision and end up "falling dead"!
So really, the first step in this process is to learn HOW to make a decision as to what is important in my life. Which brings us back to the first step in the plan. Getting to know myself.
MINIMALISM
Just this past weekend I had the privilege of volunteering at the Earth X Tiny Home Village in Fair Park, Dallas, TX. And it was there that I had the privilege of getting to know a whole bunch of other people who are much further along in their decision making process than I. One of which, Beth Ann "B.A." Norrgard of "A Bed Over My Head" said these very powerful words:
"Minimalism is really about deciding to live with the least amount of your favorite things" ~ BA Norrgard
So this is where we begin to see the "compass" of a "decision". So, before I just simply set fire to all of my belongings (which I have been VERY tempted to do a few times), I need to learn who I am, what I like, and where I am going. It was hard for me to get a lay of the land and put to words. But, as I understand it, That's the real challange of minimalism, figuring out who you are, and using THAT information to define what you NEED & DON'T NEED! And that's really why I have become enamored with the idea of minimalism. It is forcing me to take a step back and take a look looooooooooong hard look at myself and ask myself who I am?!?!
PERSONAL MARRIAGE COUNSELING
Here is the funny part of this whole situation, this process has been like forcing myself to going to marriage counseling with ME! And I can report back that it has been productive! So far, I've been learning things like: what makes me a cool person, how to communicate with myself, what desires and dreams I have for my future, some of the things I need to commit to change within myself, and finally WHAT DO I NEED, what do I reasonably WANT and what do I need to GET RID OF in order to do all the things with a realistic amount of comfort? So I guess the place where I am at in the process of building my Tiny House is the "Map drawing phase". Trying to get a vision for the future.
I do not have a determined deadline set for myself to have my tiny built, But, I have put in a healthy amount of hours determining what needs to be done, and I can proudly say that I am well on my way.
I'll keep you posted on the progress!
Paul D. Zinn, Jr.