Tomorrow is officially two weeks of living in beach life.
Most people who read that immediately start painting pictures of a dark sun tan, sun sets, and a chair on the beach.
And I cannot deny that that image is indeed how a couple of my days or at least afternoons have happened.
But, I feel I have a greater painting of reality to share with you—
my front yard is a parking lot… back yard is the same. The views vary depending on direction of parking, and it does matter. The lights hit different.
Our chimney is an Maxx Fan RV fan that deserves a heroic recognition because when it gets hot boy does that thing work some magic. The garage is not quite two feet wide by about four feet long which is created by the two step space in front of the only-locking-from-the-inside shuttle bus doors (this was a fitting purpose as the garage items have created a less noisy ride pressing up against the rattling doors).
If you’re in Oak Island I suggest trying their food, its delicious!
Our Bus bathroom is most often Anytime Fitness (shower here too) or Lowes Foods… occasionally out the door, but no details here unless you’re really curious. The kitchen is composed of a larger-than mini fridge, with barely a freezer; two top burners that run off propane; and, a sink that is connected to a water pump and six gallons of water that gets refilled regularly. The pantry is conveniently located under the two burners and always has cookies. Our living room has plenty of floor seating and one bench seat that doubles as a storage space for my art supplies. Then there’s the bedroom which is a super cozy queen temperpedic mattress laying on a bed frame Z built himself. I built a hang bar closet with some shelf storage that acts as a headboard space too!
Everything else finds a home under the bed.
Including two of my favorite bus items; my roller blades and my guitar.
I love the little bus house I have co-created with Z. It’s simple, stays pretty clean, and definitely doesn’t need all of its contents.
It is truly amazing what living on the road can do for you so quickly. I feel that the past couple weeks have been such a challenge… a much needed challenge that has started to shape my decision making and course of action daily.
If someone asked you to take your belongings and pack them into a 200 square foot bus… what would you be leaving behind?
I tell you what, since the first day I arrived at the coast, I have been saying “There is so much stuff in here I don’t want in here!”
But where do I put my “stuff?”
What kind of attachment issues a I having with my, stuff?!
Really though. I started thinking hard and often with myself about the many nick knacks I have collected throughout life. In twenty six circles around the sun I have already picked up or been given a lot of things— and while I despise using the world things, it really is the best description for a lot of these items.
I spent four days consistently purging and organizing piles of things at my mothers house with the bus in the drive way. Trip after trip walking in and out of the house and garage debating with myself about keeping, selling, or trashing anything from records, to clothes, to shoes and socks that were missing their match. I looked through art supplies, random here and theres… I exhausted myself mentally, physically, and emotionally.
And, this wasn’t the first time I had done this.
I feel like the ebb and flow of my experience cycle holds a fine tuned space for the purging times of seasons. It’s like a quarterly practice, sometimes more than that.
Needless to say, I am beginning to purge yet again!
This time I feel differently about it.
I feel excited and eager to ~release~
For example, I have a box that I packed on the bus and told Z that it was designated as the “just because/miscellaneous” container. It’s your typical tote size container, nothing special.
But, I hate it.
It’s a waste of space in this bus.
It’s something for me to look at and have to move often that I have no frequently reached for to grab anything important out of.
And while some of its contents are indeed important (my Canon 6D, an instapix photo book, tip jar, my deconstructed altar and yoni eggs) they could find a place of importance somewhere different.
That whole box is not necessary.
So! Here’s what I have decided from the insights of my intuitive calling to release.
I am planning to ceremonially release most of my crystal collection and deconstructed altar by burying it on the beach. To honor Mama Gaia I will return the all of the parts of my altar that are of the Earth back to the Earth.
The random nick-knacks of this box will be donated to salvation army in Southport along with some other unordinary items that don’t belong on the bus.
I will release over and over again until the simplicity of knowing exactly what I have and where it is consumes me.
Rather than continuing in the pattern of the materialistic nature that this worldly society persuades people to follow, I am breaking free!
It is a thrilling commitment to make and I am full of gratitude to have the opportunity to further push myself in the direction of minimalism.
Every day divine, one step at a time.
