July 4th, 2008
I’m Giving Away Everything I Own To One Lucky Reader
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Three months into my year-long quest to find the formula to turn consumerism-caused ennui into happiness, it is time for a little tweak.
But, first, here’s the sum total of what I have learned in the last three months –
We derive our sense of identity (and our sense of happiness) basically in four ways — from the things we own, from the experiences we have, from the people we relate to, and from the things we create.
Sometimes, all the four elements of our identity are in sync (and we are happy). Often, the things we own enable us to have meaningful experiences with the people we relate to. Sometimes, the things we own even become the tools with which we create things and discover meaning.
There are times, though, when there are trade-offs, when the things we own stop us from experiencing life, relating to people, or creating meaning (and we are unhappy). Two such related trade-offs are the time/ money trade-off and the experiencing/ owning trade-off.
The first step, then, is to figure out what is the real source of of our identity (and our happiness). Some people drive their sense of identity primarily from the things they own, others primarily from their relationships, still others primarily from their experiences. In any case, for each one of us, all these four elements contribute to our sense of self (and our happiness) in a “hierarchy of identities”. Here, for instance, is my own hierarchy of identities — creating meaning > relating with people > experiencing life > owning things.
The second step is to structure your life around your hierarchy of identities. This involves identifying trade-offs between these four elements and removing them, one by one, to free up possibilities for the higher order elements. For someone with my hierarchy of identities, for instance, it would mean giving away most of the things I own, and freeing up resources (money, time, and energy) for experiencing life, having meaningful relationships and creating meaning.
This is exactly what I am about to do.
I have already announced that I’ll spend the next ten months in Washington DC as the next Yahoo! Fellow in International Values, Communications, Technology, and Global Internet at Georgetown University. After putting in regular 9-to-7 workdays for more than six years, the fellowship will allow me to dramatically free up my time (and mental bandwidth) to think about a subject I’m passionate about, and perhaps write a book on it, help others discover meaning through it.
So, the first trade-off — time vs. money — is taken care of, at least for the next ten months.
The second trade-off is the owning vs. experiencing trade-off.
Even I wasn’t aware how serious I was when I wrote about a life that fits into a backpack –
Sometimes, I want to give away the life I have built over the last eights years — my job, my house, the cane furniture that I had designed myself, my bar with its three hundred glasses, the hundreds of books and DVDs I have collected over years — and live the rest of my life (or at least the next ten years) out of a backpack.
I have already decided to give away the job (for ten months at least), and my lovely house goes with it. Now, I am giving away everything else I have, to one lucky person. Yes, you read it right, I’m giving away everything I have, to one lucky person.
People have auctioned off their lives before, item by item (John Freyer, Brian Thompson, Reed Dunn), or all at once (Ian Usher), but I’m just giving it away, for free.
Here’s how it works.
In the first week of August, I’ll walk out of my house with two bags or three. I’ll give away everything else I have to one lucky person, for free.
When I say everything, I do mean everything — all my furniture (including bed, futon, dining set, sofa set, center table, bar and book cases), all my soft furnishing (including cushions, rugs and curtains), all the electronic goods in the house (including TV, home theater system, fridge, washing machine, and microwave), all the utensils and appliances in my kitchen (including hundreds of bar glasses), all the clothes, books, and DVDs I’m not carrying with me, and miscellaneous other household items.
You don’t get to choose what to keep and what not. You take it all or you take nothing at all.
All you need to do to is to tell me (in three hundred words or less) how my giving away my life will change your life what you will do with my stuff. It will be great if you actually use everything, but it’s okay to sell it off or give it away.
I do hope you use it though, because, otherwise, it won’t really be worth it. If you were to buy it all first hand, it will cost you close to Rs. 300,000. If you auction everything off on e-Bay, item by item, it will probably be worth more than Rs. 100,000. If you sell it off to a dealer, all at once, I’m not sure if you’ll even get Rs. 50,000.
If you have a blog, you can write a post with your story and link back to this post, or e-mail me the URL. If you don’t have a blog, you can write a comment below. All entries need to be submitted by July 18th with valid e-mail addresses and mobile numbers.
On Sunday, July 20th, I’ll choose the person with the most compelling interesting story, and announce the winner.
On Sunday, July 27th, the winner needs to come over to my house with a team of packers, pack it all up and take it away in a truck a team of packers will pack it all up, put it in a truck and take it to your house. If you wish to, you can choose to pay the packers; otherwise, I’ll pay them myself (but only if you live in Mumbai).
Simple.
The one thing you must not do is to tell me that you want it and then change your mind. In that case, I’ll only have enough time before I leave to revert to my backup plan of either putting away everything in temporary storage, or sending it all to my parents’ house in Patna.
Why am I doing it? Well, there’s only one way to find out if a life that fits into a backpack is all that it is trumped up to be — and that is to really live a life that fits into a backpack (or three). I’ll find out soon enough.
