A question I have had on my mind lately is “why do we put so much value in material items or just stuff?” We work our hind ends off in life to buy stuff, whether it be luxury stuff or cheap stuff. I think it is a weird concept and habit we have by revolving our entire life around buying things and buying things in excess.

Recently, I watched a documentary on Netflix about minimalism, and a man in the documentary pointed out that Americans have bigger houses than ever before, and still cannot fit all their stuff in them. The overload of junk causes Americans fill their garages with their belongings and even getting storage units. The man also mentioned that today a lot of Americans choose to build their houses to fit their stuff and not their lifestyles.

This fact made me look around in my house and in my bedroom; I realized we hold on to things just to hold on to them. In my case this is the clothes in my closet that I keep telling myself I will wear, but we all know that when you tell yourself you will wear something for longer than a month that you will never wear it.

I cannot figure out what makes it so hard for us to let go of our things will never use, and why we hold so much value into junk that clutters our houses. These are things we could easily pack up whether it be shoes and clothes and send them to countries who are going without, or even to help those in need in America due to the hurricanes hitting our country.

The point of all this, is that most of us have a one-track mind and that focuses on us, and not others. We need to focus less on material items and being so consumed by things that do not matter, and more on living and being more conscious of those around us.

While I was at work on Saturday, a man named Doug who I have known for many years stopped by and we talked about people’s attachment to belongings. He mentioned how his thirteen-year-old daughter wants to have her phone in her room at night because of all the people trying to chat with her. He said he would not let her because it is proven to disrupt sleep by having cell phones in our bedrooms, because even if our phones are off our minds are still on them. Doug and I talked about how weird it is to us that people are so tied to objects instead of living full and adventurous lives.

With fall coming right around the corner I am going to be making it my goal to clear out my junk in my room and go live. The amount of time we spend on our cell phones is insane, and we could take day trips, cook new meals or even have coffee with a friend with all the hours we sit scrolling on Facebook. It is easy to think we are living a full lives, but I guarantee we both have our cell phones within reaching distance and we have not done something just to be adventurous or just for ourselves in a while.

Liz Stephens can be reached at 581-2812 or ejstephens2@eiu.edu.