July 25th, 2008
I’m Giving Away Everything I Own, to Five People, Instead of One
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Ever since I announced that I’m giving away everything I own to one lucky reader of my blog, both friends and strangers have been asking me questions I have no easy answers for –
Why are you giving away everything you own, when you’ll be back in nine months? Won’t you want it all back when you return?
How will you decide who has the greatest need for your belongings? Why don’t you give it away to an orphanage or an old age home instead?
Would you have given everything away if you were not going away for nine months, or, if you were not writing a book?
So, instead of giving you answers I don’t have, let me share a snapshot of what I was thinking before I made my announcement.
We derive our identity (and our happiness) basically in four ways — from the things we own, from the experiences we have, from the people we relate to, and from the meaning we create. These four elements are arranged in a “hierarchy of identities” that is not only different for each one of us, but also changes for each one of us over time.
