I've said this many times, I'm sure, but I was inspired, as one might say, by the doc TINY . Not everyone would respond the way I did to the whole rental "crisis" I experienced last summer. I'm sure most people would just find another rental, or maybe get the ball rolling on buying a home--which I considered for a little bit, but it just didn't feel right. Having watched the documentary that particular summer made me feel like I had different options, and those options felt empowering. Instead of following the more traditional path, I moved into an unfinished house and started making plans for a tiny one. There are others who make this sort of veer onto this path for various reasons too--not that this matters too much to me, but honestly, it is kind of nice to know others are making a similar choice--I'm human, it's nice to not be completely alone and know there are other semi-kindred spirits out there. Maybe they don't live in an unfinished home for almost a year-especially through the winter, but they have a similar spirit.
While watching TINY: a story about living small, Dee Williams was introduced to me. I liked her comments during the film, and the simplicity of her home. Then I found out she was publishing a book thanks to my new Facebook account that kept me up to date on this kind of stuff--I just joined the facebook world last summer and although I have not been able to get into the traditional spirit of it, I've liked that it keeps me updated on things I'm interested in in a way I wasn't pre-facebook. I knew I would revisit Dee's thoughts, but I wanted to examine my reasons for "going tiny" alone, not influenced by other's thoughts through the fall and winter to make sure it wasn't just me getting caught up into some sort of fad or just my knee jerk reaction to the craziness of the whole rental ordeal.
By spring I knew this was the path I was ready to go down. Building this small home and downsizing my possessions reflects my beliefs and the lifestyle I want to live. Being able to take my tailored-to-me home wherever I end up felt more and more wonderful. Where home will be located is an evolving thing in my head. Spring started and had me thinking that I would buy property to place it on, but when that fell through the idea of placing it on my parents' land and utilizing their extra space for gardening for a while started making sense. Once I knew this was for real I allowed myself to watch TINY again and remember Dee. I ordered her book the other day and am looking forward to reading it. Of course in preparation to reading it I've listened to her TEDx talk as well as a book talk she held in Boulder, both have me even more eager to read her memoir--youtube can be so great--being able to listen to book talks and such like you were right there in the audience--I appreciate that more and more now that I live in an area where it would be hours to go to such an event.
I'm looking forward to seeing where this book takes me. Already, just thinking about going smaller has taken me a lot of good places. It's made me think about priorities, my future, possessions, and home in ways I never dreamed I would be taking the time to think about. Already I feel like I know myself better through all of this--like I'm headed in the direction I've been trying to get headed in for many years, but didn't know how to get to. I'm sure the building process and then the living-in-it phases will work on me, and I'm looking forward to that too.
Amazon Prime two day shipping is a wonderful thing.
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