Milestones Make Us Question: What is Next and Really Important?

​My daughter, Jessica Gross, graduates May 6th from Berry College in Rome, Georgia with a B.S. in Finance and Management. My family is very proud and excited for her. She has a job in Manhattan at BlackRock and will start working in July. She will share a small (very small) Upper Eastside apartment with a roommate, friend and colleague. What’s important to move when you have very little space? We have been pondering…questioning what is absolutely needed to survive in N.Y.C.? Probably some mace and a baseball bat, but seriously, what is necessary? Not much.  

Do you ever ask yourself before you purchase something, “Is this really necessary”? Will it enhance my life or become a burden (clutter)? If you live in a small space you have to choose essential over superfluous. Why not apply the small living constraints concept to our larger roomier homes? We might be happier and wealthier if we adopt the less is more rationale.

When you have less furniture, less clothing, less stuff your home looks and feels inviting. When you have a place, a neat organized place, for everything you own; life is less stressful. I would much rather own less and live more. I want to surround myself with things that I use and things that are valuable to me. They don’t have to be valuable to anyone else. I also want things that hold value to be out on display not hidden somewhere in a box, in a closet, or a storage unit. If it is important enough to keep then it is important enough to use or have on display.

Milestones will come and go. They give us an opportunity to pause and reevaluate our lives. It is important to assess and make beneficial changes in our lives: changes that will enhance our quality of life.  I encourage you to pause after reading this and decide on a project that you want to complete or a change you would like to implement in your life. Once you have decided on something write it down and apply a completion date to it. You are in charge of your life and you only get one life. Live it to the fullest.

Adele