I have this tendency to regularly pick up new activities, hobbies, projects, and jobs. As a result, I get overly busy and collect a bunch of stuff I must maintain or fix. One of my last year’s goals was to significantly simplify my life. So far, I haven’t done too well, but I am now making a significant effort toward that goal. The first thing I did was make a list of everything I could give away or sell, which is very long. I put my 1950 Ford Club Coupe with a flathead V8 on Facebook Marketplace last week, and I think I have someone to buy that. I gave my pontoon boat to my son Seth, hauled my 26-foot dory to Alaska, left it, and gave my 10-foot pram away. I now have one boat and one small rubber raft to fish with. I have 30 fishing rods, and I will give all but six away. I have a ton of archery stuff, but I can’t pull my bow back anymore, so I will sell or give away all of it. I have a bunch of clothes that I can’t fit in, and I have been saving for when I get skinny; I am taking it all to the church clothing bank.

It isn’t that I don’t want to do a lot of things; I just want to simplify my life, so I am doing important things. I don’t have much time left in my life, ten years, maybe fifteen, and I certainly don’t have as much energy. I will still fish every chance I get, preach and teach often, and hang out with friends and family. I will probably do one more bicycle trip, hunt for a couple more years, and then retire from them. I even think I will give all my guns away in a couple of years and all my tools on my 80th birthday. I only use five clubs when I golf, so I might as well give the rest away, though no one will want part of a set, so I might as well throw them away😀.

I am starting to feel more energized just by writing this blog; a simple life sounds very attractive.