On and off over the past couple of years, I have been trying to downshift. I have faltered in some ways, but in many I have succeeded. It seems almost ingrained in me that I can solve most any problem by buying something. In some cases, that is the best way to solve a problem. In most, it is very satisfying on the front-end but not so much in the end. I have an unfortunate gadget addiction that has set me back a little, but I think I can claim overall success in this endeavor.

There are many aspects of my life that are much simpler than they were five years ago. I no longer watch television. I buy and play fewer video games after peaking around five or so per month. I am getting rid of discs (CDs and DVDs). All this is making my life less cluttered and easier to handle. I bounce back and forth between degrees of simplicity. When this personal project first began, I purged my TV and all my video games. Now, I have a television (not connected to any source of television programming), and I own an Xbox 360. I am still worlds better off than I would have been in my former state. If I had not reformed, I would have one of each of the current game consoles and 20-30 games each. I probably own eight games altogether right now and don’t really have a burning desire to have more.

I also carried very little with me. Now, I carry a pretty large bag with me nearly everywhere I go. In it, I have my Macbook, some accessories, a book, sunglasses, my MP3 player, and about a hundred other things. It’s convenient to have these things, but it makes moving around a lot more complicated. I have to put everything back in the bag and toss it over my shoulder not to mention the hassle of lugging the thing.

So, I’ve taken two steps forward and two steps back, I suppose. I’m pretty happy with the progress I’ve made. I feel lots of resistance from society though. It’s not direct resistance. I think it’s just my own socialization resisting against my desire to downshift. Anyway, I plan to devote a couple of blog posts to how I’m making computers part of the solution to get rid of CDs, DVDs, and filing cabinets full of papers. Look for those down the road.