Letting Go

One thing I have tried hard to do in the past few years is pry away from the grip consumerism has on my life. A few years ago, I was out of control. I was a compulsive shopper and had to have everything NOW. And I seemed to have it all too. Then we moved to Scotland and our lives drastically changed. At first it was really hard, but eventually much of the grip that consumerism had on my life vanished. And it felt so refreshing. I've learned to not compare myself and my life to others but to enjoy what we have and the activities we do with our money...though I will still admit this is a struggle that still rears its ugly head from time to time. But still, there has always been a little part of me that holds on.

My father in law has always been so gracious and generous to allow so many people to borrow possessions of his, even very nice possessions of his. And when I have questioned him theoretically about say his brand new car getting ruined by one of us, he always stresses that we are much more valuable than his possessions. And I know he means it. Why? Because when I have seen possessions of his take a beating, he always keeps his cool. It is amazing and a quality I really admire in him...and a quality I aspire to have. 

Recently this quality I aspire to have has been tested a couple times. The first time was when someone accidentally burned a ring into my beautiful new dining room table. I realized I had two choices. I could choose to get pissed off, yell and be angry. Or I could choose to let it go and realize how blessed I am to not only have a beautiful dining room table, but I also have access to really hot water. In that instance, I also went one step further and stated that it showed how blessed we were to have a lived in house and not a museum of a house. 

As I mentioned in my camping post, my ipad suffered a boo-boo. And really, this mishap was no one person's fault. I guess I can blame the whole family in the mishap, except for maybe Isla. Either way, my ipad now has three cracks across the screen and a beat up corner. When that happened it really took will power and a conscious effort on my part to let it go. My family and my relationship with them is worth so much more than an ipad getting hurt and me freaking out over it. Though I will say, about half an hour after it happened, I told Ian I was still mourning the loss of a friend. I'm lame, I know. Later that evening, I was happy to learn that my pPad still functions fine. And laying in bed watching netflix on it, I can't even see the cracks...I'm trying to find the silver lining here people! 

All this to say, I still work hard at staying out of the grasp of consumerism and possessions over my life. It is no easy struggle. But it is a struggle that I think is worth the fight.