I posted something similar a few weeks ago when there was a link to a blog post talking about how getting rid of your smartphone will free you from the shackles. Again, I never understand the extremes. I own a fair amount of stuff. I use a fair amount of stuff. Must I either own nothing or own a ton of "shit"? I'm 31, married, and am planning on children in the very near future. Packing up a suitcase and fleeing town isn't something I aspire to.

I have a working room in my house where I have my desk, a computer, two guitars, and a keyboard. All "shit", but all shit I need to write and record music, which I find highly fulfilling. I also have some bookcases with books I've either read and want to keep or use fairly regularly for reference. They're not fitting in my suitcase but I'm better off with them than without them. I'm not missing out on life because I own things that I like.

I have a garage full of tools that I use to work on the house, as well as the cars that get my wife and I to work. Again, it's "shit". It "prevents" me from packing a suitcase and leaving town, but again, I enjoy the tinkering. I also have a little corner in my garage where I keep my homebrewing equipment and kegerator. While these things may shackle my existence in the world, guess what? I enjoy homebrewing.

The rest of my house is filled with functional devices as well. It's more comfortable sitting on a couch than it is the floor, so we have a couch. I, too, eat paleo and find that I need a few things in the kitchen to help accomodate that diet.

Must every hobby of ours exist within a laptop in order to achieve this weird bohemian self-actualization? If money is not an issue, is it terrible to own a few items you can't pack away in a moments notice? If I seriously wanted to skip town and go live in a foreign country for a year, it wouldn't exactly be hard to go rent a storage unit for less than $100 a month to house some of the stuff I can't take with me but wish to keep.