Last week in the 52Weeks project I ranted about simplification, but my point was more about self-improvement as a lifetime goal. While such a philosophy doesn’t necessarily exclude technology, for us it’s more about taking inventory and reducing to the necessary. Possessions, hobbies, thoughts, what have you… Anything that isn’t essential is a diversion and needs to go if we really want to concentrate on life. With that in mind, we think it makes sense to weed out all the frivolous and reduce attention to only what is truly important. I’m not talking about just getting rid of things, I mean redefining focus, which is the reason we started this project: to take a more critical view of who we are, to remove the negative, focus on the positive.

Having seriously considered this thought process for six months now as part of the project, I realize several unexpected contradictions. For instance, we understand both more and less about our peers and our families. While motivations are more clear and we have a better feel for how we fit into our families, we are more confused by the decisions people make and we seem to relate less in spite of the better understanding. Another thing I notice is that despite living apart from almost everyone we know well, the distance hasn’t substantially impacted any of our relationships. People I expected to stay close have managed to remain in touch, and the rest? No better, no worse. I guess that means we are doing a decent job of communicating because really nothing has changed.

What does all this mean?

There are a few lessons here. Most important, we made the right decision to move. We left a lot of family behind, but neither of us could imagine living in Texas anymore. Second, there is a lot of value in individualism and independence. Nothing Earth shattering about that except that so few seem concerned by the dependency of their decisions. I’m not saying everyone should uproot and move away from family – but I’m not saying you shouldn’t. A change in approach to life is never bad.

Last, the more we reflect the more questions we have about others — probably a natural process. It is also why we choose to minimize and concentrate on our own personal growth. I love the spot they picked. No matter how many times we see it, the Spokane River seems so powerful and scary. Really impressive. Also I’m not sure how I managed to get a decent photo of myself with that bandana on, I couldn’t see a thing.