Bye Bye Books

Wednesday August 7^th, 2013 – Fox Lake, IL

   I unloaded two more big boxes of books today, but it didn’t put a dent in the master pile. I did get a few requests from yesterday, and did my best to oblige. Sally Edwards requested Anthony Robbins and Zig Ziglar, and since she lives not far from me I delivered them to her front door.

   Bill Gorgo and I got together to prepare for fall comedy classes, and he helped himself to some joke books I’ve never used but hauled all over the country through my many moves. I mistakenly thought I’d have a use for them, but never did. They were dead weight, and I’m glad they are out of my life. If I should happen to need them, I’m sure Bill will let me use them whenever I want.

   This kind of mindset is probably more common than I realize. My grandfather, father and uncle were all borderline hoarders, and wouldn’t get rid of anything if their life depended on it. They’d save rusty tools, boards with nails in them and all kinds of other things that never had any use.

   Their wives used to nag each of them to clean out their backlog of junk, but none of them ever did. Then they died, and left their families the horrific task of getting rid of it all. I’ve seen it take place three times in my personal family experience, and I want to make sure I don’t follow suit.

   I thought I was above that by saving books, but I really wasn’t. I do read often – probably a lot more than average – but I still have a far bigger supply than I will ever need in this life or several others. Even if I read a book a month, that’s sixty books in five years. I’ve got at least a thousand or more, not counting magazines and articles I’ve clipped over the years. Nobody needs all that.

   There’s more than I’ll ever read on the internet alone not to mention the world class library just two blocks from where I live. If I feel a reading need, there’s an easy fix seconds away. I’ll allow myself to save a reasonable number of personal favorites, but the rest will return to circulation.

   Hopefully, I’ll be able to give a lot more away. I’d be fine if someone else got some use out of all this rather than have it sit there and do nothing. I had my opportunity, but could only get to so much. Holding on any longer is not productive for anyone. Away it all goes, the faster the better.

   Today I tried my luck with Half Price Books – knowing I wasn’t going to get rich. Wow, was I right. A seller is always at their mercy, and all I got was an offbeat offer of $35. I couldn’t figure out how they arrived at that number and I suppose I could ‘negotiate’, but that’s never something I enjoy. My grandpa would have loved it and tried to squeeze every last nickel, but that’s not me.

   I took the money and my empty bins, and walked to my car feeling relieved. I’m going to keep shrinking my possessions until it hurts – and then I’m going to shrink them some more. Anything I’m getting rid of is replaceable if I really wanted it again, but for now I’d rather be free of mind.

   I keep recalling how Gandhi used to allow himself only a handful of possessions – one of them being his eye glasses so he could read. I don’t know if I’ll make it that far, but I’d bet it wouldn’t kill me if I did. Most people I know could get by with a lot less, and this feels like the right thing to do at this time. Yesterday unloading one box stung ever so slightly. Today, it felt really good.

   It has to be good for everyone to shuffle the cards in one’s own deck on occasion. If we’re not growing, we’re dying. I feel a growth surge coming on, and my creative juices are still bubbling as well. The less I have to worry about material objects, the more I can spend on creative ideas.

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Everything Must Go!

Tuesday August 6^th, 2013 – Fox Lake, IL

   It’s prime time for a possession purge in my life. I feel a backup of clutter weighing me down, and chopping as much dead weight as I can will free me up to move forward. I try to live as lean as possible – or at least I thought I did – but too many piles of junk still manage to accumulate.

   Books have always been my downfall, and that’s the pile that needs to be trimmed most. I have way more than I’ll ever read, and at this point they are just weighing me down. I do read as much as I can, but often it’s online or other sources. These books will be best served in someone else’s possession, as even if I’d start tomorrow and read twelve hours a day I’d never finish them all.

   Almost all of them are nonfiction. I have a ton of self help and how to books, along with health related, biographies and business. I’d love to get to every one of them, but that’s just not realistic and never was. What guy doesn’t want to sleep with every centerfold? That won’t happen either.

   I also have a butt load of audio programs – most of them on cassette. Nightingale Conant is the company that puts them out and most if not all are excellent. I found the majority at thrift stores or rummage sales at minimal cost, but I know for a fact the retail price for a long time was $60.

   I checked on Ebay, and they’re being offered at around $12.99 each for the “buy it now” price. That doesn’t mean they’re getting it, and I’ve got at least 100 titles from Anthony Robbins to Zig Ziglar and everyone in between. I’ve got a few CD sets, but the majority of them are cassettes as that was the technology at the time they were made. The content is still good, but who wants it?

  I’ve listened to quite a few of them, and luckily I happen to have had cassette players in my last few cars but there’s no way I would ever hear them all even if I drove to the North Pole and back six times in a row. Most of them I haven’t gotten to, and they’ve been gathering dust for years.

   If I really wanted to hear them I would have by now, and the same goes for the books. I got to as many as I could, but the future looks bleak for the rest of them. I just don’t have as much time as I’d like, and it would make me feel much better if I’d cut ties with all of it and cleanse my life.

   I took a big box of books to the Salvation Army today, and that felt great. Many of them I read, but a few I hadn’t. It stung a little to put them in the box, but I realized if I hadn’t gotten to them by now I probably never would. I don’t want to be the equivalent of a cat lady for books. I’m not a hoarder, and if I really want that book in the future I can check the shelf at the Salvation Army.

   That’s where a lot of this stuff came from anyway. It gave me something to do on the road, and it didn’t cost much. A couple of bucks here and there weren’t missed, but it sure would be nice to have all of it back and start over. Too late now, as the choices were made. Time to choose again.

   Making time to list the titles and then listing them on Ebay isn’t what I see myself doing in the next little while. I’ve got other projects that need attention, so I think the best option is to clear it out any way I can. If I have to give most of it away, so be it. It’s time to cut losses and move on.

   If you happen to enjoy reading or listening to what I’ve described, feel free to contact me and it will be my pleasure to hook you up with some outstanding material. You could pay me money if you want, but far better payment would be to make use of it yourself then pass it to someone who might also enjoy it and help make the planet a better place. That’s what I’m trying to do myself.