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<i>[newsman] </i><span style="style2">Some experts</i>
<span style="style2">call it a retail apocalypse.</i>

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<i>2019 marked one of the worst years</i>
<i>in a decade for brick-and-mortar stores.</i>

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<i>[man] </i><span style="style2">Less Is Now.</i>

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<i>[interviewer] Why do you think</i>
<i>this idea of minimalism or simplifying</i>

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<i>is really catching on right now?</i>

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<i>Mm-hmm.</i>

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<i>I think it's because we have</i>
<i>the opportunity to have so much. [laughs]</i>

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<i>A portion of America's</i>
<i>definitely addicted to stuff.</i>

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<i>Probably not in the classic</i>
<i>psychology sense of addiction.</i>

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<i>We just love stuff!</i>

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{\an8}<i>Monday, today, is supposed to be</i>

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<i>the biggest online shopping day</i>
<i>of all times,</i>

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<i>reaching around three-and-a-third</i>
<i>billion dollars in online sales.</i>

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<i>Anything that you can think of,</i>
<i>you can get on your doorstep,</i>

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<i>now within 24 hours.</i>

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<i>That's… That's almost like magic, right?</i>

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<i>When you look up at the sky, you may soon</i>
<i>see Amazon's army of new-age deliveries.</i>

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<i>[newswoman] </i><span style="style2">The electronic aircraft</i>
<span style="style2">would have a 15-mile range</i>

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<i>and deliver packages within 30 minutes.</i>

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<i>[man] The consumer world understands</i>

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<i>that if I can get you</i>
<i>to choose before you think,</i>

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<i>I'm gonna get you</i>
<i>to buy things you do not need.</i>

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<i>My senses are just being bombarded</i>
<i>with reminders,</i>

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<i>like, "Hey, you should buy this.</i>

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<i>You'd be happier if you buy this."</i>
<i>You know?</i>

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<i>[laughing] And it's just sort of like,</i>
<i>in so many ways,</i>

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<i>they're trying</i>
<i>to beat you into submission.</i>

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<i>"Okay, I'll buy it! I need it! I need it!"</i>

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{\an8}<i>Amazon, hiring once again.</i>

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{\an8}<i>The company looking to recruit</i>
<i>100,000 workers</i>

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<i>to meet surging levels</i>
<i>of e-commerce demand.</i>

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<i>Lots of smaller retail businesses</i>
<i>are being lost,</i>

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<i>and the power is being consolidated</i>
<i>in the hands of these giants.</i>

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<i>Stuff is contributing to our discontent</i>
<i>in so many different ways,</i>

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<i>because it's taking the place</i>

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<i>of the things that actually</i>
<i>do give us more happiness.</i>

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<i>I found minimalism about seven years ago</i>
<i>in the midst of a breakdown.</i>

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<i>I was overworked. Um, I was exhausted.</i>
<i>I was heavily stressed out.</i>

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<i>There has to be more to life</i>
<i>than just working.</i>

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<i>I think immediately I got up,</i>
<i>and I went to my closet,</i>

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<i>and I started pulling my clothes out.</i>

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<i>Uh, I stayed up until 3:00 a.m.,</i>
<i>and I just packed so many things.</i>

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<i>[woman] As I started</i>
<i>slowly releasing things,</i>

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<i>I gained a sense of freedom.</i>

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<i>[woman 2] Change is definitely coming.</i>
<i>Change is inevitable,</i>

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<i>because you can't continue to consume</i>

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<i>more than the planet can replenish</i>
<i>every year.</i>

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<i>You just physically can't.</i>

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<i>So the question is not</i>
<span style="style2">if</i><i> we are gonna change as a society,</i>

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<i>but </i><span style="style2">how </i><i>we are gonna change.</i>

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<i>'Cause we're either gonna change</i>
<i>by design or by disaster.</i>

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<i>It all started with one question.</i>

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<i>How might your life be better with less?</i>

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<i>[birds chirping]</i>

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<i>-[man] Want some tea?</i>
<i>-[woman] Sure.</i>

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<i>[man] Okay.</i>

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<i>[woman] It's in the… Yeah. Okay.</i>

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<i>[man] Yeah, y-you know, I mean,</i>
<i>aesthetics are important to me,</i>

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{\an8}<i>but what I care most about</i>
<i>is having a place free of clutter.</i>

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{\an8}<i>So when you look around my place,</i>

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<i>not everything</i>
<i>is necessarily minimalist design.</i>

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<i>I don't go out of my way to specifically</i>
<i>have only minimalist aesthetics.</i>

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<i>But to me, it's… it's clutter-free.</i>

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<i>We often confuse simplicity with easy,</i>

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<i>but it's actually the exact opposite.</i>

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<i>Living a simple life,</i>
<i>it takes a lot of work.</i>

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<i>It takes a lot of work to be intentional.</i>
<i>What's easy is going with the flow.</i>

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<i>It's going out, and going to IKEA,</i>
<i>and buying the cheap furniture</i>

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<i>every time you think you need</i>
<i>a piece of furniture or an end table.</i>

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<i>It is very difficult to go through</i>
<i>some of these stoical experiments</i>

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<i>to see what you can live with</i>
<i>or live without,</i>

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<i>but, in the end, it's worth the work.</i>

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<i>[host]</i>
<span style="style2">People go, "Check out this documentary.</i>

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<i>-These guys, The Minimalists."</i>
<span style="style1">-[hosts 2] </i><i>The Minimalists.</i>

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<i>[host 3] </i><span style="style2">The Minimalists are with us.</i>
<span style="style2">Joshua and Ryan.</i>

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<i>[TV journalist] They have books,</i>
<i>a podcast, and a Netflix documentary,</i>

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<i>all guiding typical consumers</i>
<i>on how to downsize their way to happiness.</i>

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<i>[Ryan] I don't think you can understand</i>
<i>how Josh and I came to be minimalists</i>

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<i>without looking at our upbringings.</i>

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<i>Both of us grew up poor.</i>

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<i>Our moms had issues with substance abuse,</i>
<i>and we really never had enough.</i>

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<i>Dude, look at this. This is hilarious.</i>

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<i>[laughter]</i>

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<i>Even our furniture.</i>
<i>[chuckling] It was like…</i>

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<i>It was like do-it-yourself furniture.</i>

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<i>That's like our cupboard in the kitchen.</i>

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<i>I was really a happy kid</i>
<i>up until, uh, about the second grade</i>

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<i>when my parents got divorced.</i>

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<i>It happens to a lot of kids,</i>
<i>their parents get divorced.</i>

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<i>But I remember things</i>
<i>really getting dysfunctional when…</i>

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<i>uh, when my mom left my dad.</i>

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<i>And there was just a lot of…</i>

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<i>a lot of partying, I remember.</i>

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<i>And, um, you know, as a kid,</i>
<i>it looked like a lot of fun.</i>

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<i>My mom did a good job</i>
<i>of making it look fun.</i>

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<i>I met Josh in the fifth grade</i>
<i>when I moved to his middle school.</i>

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<i>[laughs] Oh!</i>

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<i>[Ryan] It could have been</i>
<i>that we were both from broken homes</i>

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<i>and didn't have much money growing up,</i>

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<i>or maybe it was that we were</i>
<i>the two fattest kids in our grade,</i>

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<i>but we just hit it off,</i>
<i>and we became best friends.</i>

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<i>[Joshua] When we were growing up,</i>
<i>I feel like we could've used minimalism,</i>

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{\an8}<i>because minimalism is basically</i>
<i>the intentional use of resources you have,</i>

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{\an8}<i>and if you have very few resources,</i>
<i>like we did growing up,</i>

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<i>man, we could've done much better</i>

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<i>by being more deliberate</i>
<i>with those resources.</i>

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<i>It's interesting,</i>
<i>because when you're poor,</i>

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<i>it's like, when someone</i>
<i>offers you something, you take it.</i>

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<i>I-I think about my household growing up,</i>
<i>and we had so much stuff,</i>

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<i>because we took every single thing</i>
<i>that was offered to us.</i>

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<i>However, we had a lot of stuff</i>
<i>that we didn't need.</i>

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<i>In fact, it was just clutter,</i>
<i>and it did not add any value.</i>

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<i>As we get more space,</i>
<i>we fill it with more things.</i>

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<i>As we get more things, we need more space,</i>

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<i>so we turn to storage lockers,</i>
<i>or we turn to bigger houses.</i>

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<i>And we never really stop to question,</i>
<i>"What is essential? What is necessary?"</i>

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<i>Then, "How much of the stuff is actually</i>
<i>adding any value to my life at all?"</i>

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<i>A decade ago,</i>

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<i>by the time I was 28 years old,</i>
<i>I had achieved everything I ever wanted.</i>

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<i>I was the youngest director</i>
<i>in my company's 140-year history,</i>

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<i>and I had all the fringe benefits</i>
<i>of a middle manager</i>

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<i>at a major corporation.</i>

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<i>The luxury cars,</i>

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<i>the closet filled with designer clothes,</i>

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<i>the big suburban house</i>
<i>with more toilets than people.</i>

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<i>I guess you could say</i>
<i>I was living the American dream.</i>

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<i>But then, my mom died…</i>

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<i>and my marriage ended…</i>

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<i>both in the same month.</i>

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<i>And these two events</i>
<i>forced me to look around</i>

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<i>and start to question</i>
<i>what had become my life's focus.</i>

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<i>You know what I realized?</i>

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<i>I realized I was so focused</i>
<i>on so-called success, and achievement,</i>

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<i>and especially</i>
<i>on the accumulation of stuff.</i>

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<i>I might have been living</i>
<i>the American dream,</i>

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<i>but it wasn't </i><span style="style2">my </i><i>dream.</i>

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<i>It took getting everything</i>
<i>I thought I wanted</i>

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<i>to realize</i>
<i>that maybe everything I ever wanted</i>

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<i>wasn't actually what I wanted at all.</i>

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<i>[woman] Corporations</i>
<i>and the drive for corporate profit</i>

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<i>is absolutely behind the addiction</i>
<i>to stuff that we have in this country.</i>

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{\an8}<i>The way corporations are structured</i>
<i>in this country</i>

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{\an8}<i>is they really need to keep growing.</i>

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<i>A corporation's primary obligation</i>
<i>is to their shareholders,</i>

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<i>to which they have to keep delivering</i>
<i>increased revenue,</i>

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<i>and that's sort of the foundation</i>
<i>of capitalism, growth.</i>

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{\an8}<i>I-I don't think the problem has much to do</i>
<i>with how much we're growing,</i>

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{\an8}<i>but rather how we answer the question</i>
<i>of "where are we going?"</i>

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<i>I think one of the biggest problems</i>
<i>we have in our world now</i>

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<i>is that people</i>
<i>really aren't free to choose.</i>

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<i>We talk about being in a free market</i>

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<i>or a free society,</i>
<i>but people aren't really free to choose.</i>

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<i>Because you just have</i>
<i>one or two large institutions</i>

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<i>that have these artificial monopolies,</i>

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<i>and they get to decide for everyone</i>

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<i>what you can watch,</i>
<i>what you can listen to.</i>

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<i>And so, manipulation of… of our interests,</i>

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<i>manipulation of our natural,</i>
<i>God-given taste really is happening.</i>

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<i>[man] Marketers are really impressive</i>
<i>in their ability to manipulate the mind,</i>

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<i>in their ability to create a need</i>
<i>or a perceived need</i>

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<i>out of something that was a want.</i>

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{\an8}<i>We live in the most advertised-to culture</i>
<i>in the history of the world.</i>

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{\an8}<i>Think about it.</i>

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<i>Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent</i>
<i>telling us we need this,</i>

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<i>and it has an effect.</i>

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<i>[Joshua] The money spent on advertising</i>
<i>in the United States</i>

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{\an8}<i>has increased</i>
<i>from just over $5 billion in the 1950s</i>

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{\an8}<i>to $240 billion a year today.</i>

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{\an8}<i>And since the turn of the 21st century,</i>

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{\an8}<i>much of that spending has moved</i>
<i>from television and radio</i>

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{\an8}<i>to digital advertising.</i>

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<i>The result, intelligent and predictive ads</i>

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<i>that seem to know us</i>
<i>better than we know ourselves.</i>

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<i>Companies have figured out</i>
<i>how to stitch our devices together,</i>

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<i>so they know when you pick up your tablet</i>
<i>or switch to your smartphone,</i>

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<i>when you change the channel on your TV</i>

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<i>or speak to your smart device.</i>

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<i>Using the GPS on your devices,</i>
<i>they can track your movement</i>

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<i>to see which billboards you pass,</i>

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<i>which stores you frequent,</i>

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<i>and even the amount of credit card debt</i>
<i>you've racked up.</i>

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<i>They map these movements</i>

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<i>to know when it's the perfect time</i>
<i>to message you next.</i>

184
00:09:40,079 --> 00:09:44,834
<i>And the end goal is always the same.</i>
<i>To get you to buy more stuff.</i>

185
00:09:46,377 --> 00:09:49,672
<i>And one of the tricks they use</i>
<i>is what we call deficit advertising.</i>

186
00:09:49,755 --> 00:09:52,133
<i>They send us advertisements</i>

187
00:09:52,216 --> 00:09:56,178
<i>that make us subconsciously feel</i>
<i>like we are inadequate, um,</i>

188
00:09:56,262 --> 00:09:57,763
<i>if we don't have this product.</i>

189
00:09:57,847 --> 00:10:00,725
<i>So, "I will not be loved</i>
<i>if I don't have this toothpaste."</i>

190
00:10:00,808 --> 00:10:03,894
<i>"My children will not value me</i>
<i>if I don't have this dish soap."</i>

191
00:10:03,978 --> 00:10:05,271
<i>Everyone's gonna want this.</i>

192
00:10:05,354 --> 00:10:07,648
<i>It's no different</i>
<i>than the premise of working out at a gym.</i>

193
00:10:07,732 --> 00:10:09,233
<i>It's the massaging hand sauna.</i>

194
00:10:09,317 --> 00:10:12,945
<i>-[woman] This is gonna make you thirsty.</i>
<i>-A perfect set for every occasion.</i>

195
00:10:13,029 --> 00:10:15,948
<i>-You can feel it, you can see it.</i>
<i>-[muffled] You can totally feel it.</i>

196
00:10:16,032 --> 00:10:19,952
<i>[Annie] This bombardment of messages</i>
<i>that we are not enough.</i>

197
00:10:20,036 --> 00:10:23,581
<i>So think about what that does</i>
<i>to people, just every day,</i>

198
00:10:23,664 --> 00:10:26,250
<i>over and over, getting messages,</i>
<i>"You are not enough.</i>

199
00:10:26,334 --> 00:10:29,712
<i>Your hair, your clothes, your skin,</i>
<i>your body is not enough."</i>

200
00:10:29,795 --> 00:10:31,631
<i>Just relentless.</i>

201
00:10:31,714 --> 00:10:33,424
<i>So then we want to go be enough.</i>

202
00:10:33,507 --> 00:10:36,427
<i>And because we've lost</i>
<i>these other ways of being enough…</i>

203
00:10:36,510 --> 00:10:40,431
<i>The other ways of being enough</i>
<i>are having a community, having a purpose,</i>

204
00:10:40,514 --> 00:10:44,143
<i>you know, having an identity</i>
<i>besides the brand on you.</i>

205
00:10:44,226 --> 00:10:45,645
<i>Because we've lost those,</i>

206
00:10:45,728 --> 00:10:49,065
<i>we misplace our desire</i>
<i>for belonging and satisfaction</i>

207
00:10:49,148 --> 00:10:50,775
<i>by buying more stuff.</i>

208
00:10:50,858 --> 00:10:54,654
<i>We don't really say,</i>
<i>"Okay, I'm gonna turn stuff into my idol."</i>

209
00:10:54,737 --> 00:10:56,781
<i>We don't say that in our intellect.</i>

210
00:10:56,864 --> 00:10:58,783
<i>No one intentionally does that.</i>

211
00:10:58,866 --> 00:11:01,869
<i>But we can tell by our behaviors</i>
<i>that that's actually what we've done.</i>

212
00:11:01,952 --> 00:11:04,163
<i>Because you know,</i>
<i>if you're saying to yourself,</i>

213
00:11:04,246 --> 00:11:06,290
<i>"Well, if I just had that car,</i>
<i>I'd be happy then.</i>

214
00:11:06,374 --> 00:11:08,751
<i>If I just lived in that house,</i>
<i>I'd be happy then.</i>

215
00:11:08,834 --> 00:11:10,628
<i>If we moved to that neighborhood,</i>
<i>we'd be happy.</i>

216
00:11:10,711 --> 00:11:13,506
<i>If I had that couch or those new drapes,</i>
<i>I'd be happy then."</i>

217
00:11:13,589 --> 00:11:17,009
<i>And that means that you're worshiping</i>
<i>at the altar of stuff.</i>

218
00:11:17,093 --> 00:11:20,513
<i>You have officially contracted</i>
<i>the disease of "stuffitis."</i>

219
00:11:21,055 --> 00:11:24,600
<i>And so, it becomes a spiritual thing then,</i>

220
00:11:24,684 --> 00:11:27,895
<i>because it's in competition</i>
<i>with the things that really matter.</i>

221
00:11:27,978 --> 00:11:29,647
<i>[T.K.] Everybody's selling something.</i>

222
00:11:29,730 --> 00:11:33,275
<i>And that doesn't mean that…</i>
<i>that selling is always bad. It's okay.</i>

223
00:11:33,359 --> 00:11:36,987
<i>I want my grocery store</i>
<i>to sell things that I can go buy.</i>

224
00:11:37,071 --> 00:11:40,825
<i>I want to be able to buy food, right?</i>
<i>So I want them to sell that to me.</i>

225
00:11:40,908 --> 00:11:45,621
<i>It's not about looking at people</i>
<i>and condemning them for having an angle,</i>

226
00:11:45,705 --> 00:11:47,832
<i>or for having something they're marketing,</i>

227
00:11:47,915 --> 00:11:50,209
<i>or for having a product</i>
<i>that they're pushing.</i>

228
00:11:50,292 --> 00:11:52,712
<i>It's… It's making sure you understand</i>

229
00:11:52,795 --> 00:11:55,881
<i>that what other people are pushing</i>
<i>is not always consistent.</i>

230
00:11:55,965 --> 00:11:59,093
<i>It's not always compatible</i>
<i>with what it is you need.</i>

231
00:12:00,428 --> 00:12:05,307
{\an8}<i>My shopping habits before minimalism</i>
<i>were compulsive.</i>

232
00:12:05,391 --> 00:12:07,560
{\an8}<i>I was spending money,</i>
<i>and it was out of control.</i>

233
00:12:07,643 --> 00:12:11,731
{\an8}<i>Shopping was a crutch.</i>
<i>It was a place I would go to.</i>

234
00:12:11,814 --> 00:12:14,942
{\an8}<i>Some people like to emotionally eat.</i>
<i>I would emotionally shop.</i>

235
00:12:15,025 --> 00:12:16,485
{\an8}<i>I was all about the deal.</i>

236
00:12:16,569 --> 00:12:21,782
{\an8}<i>So I was all about, um, finding,</i>
<i>you know, that 99% off item</i>

237
00:12:21,866 --> 00:12:24,535
{\an8}<i>that I could get, you know,</i>
<i>for a huge discount.</i>

238
00:12:24,618 --> 00:12:27,329
{\an8}<i>I would most likely buy that item</i>

239
00:12:27,413 --> 00:12:29,665
{\an8}<i>thinking this was the only chance</i>
<i>I would get.</i>

240
00:12:29,749 --> 00:12:32,126
{\an8}<i>I would have, uh, nail clippers.</i>

241
00:12:32,209 --> 00:12:35,463
{\an8}<i>I would buy fancy ones,</i>
<i>normal ones, regular ones, you know.</i>

242
00:12:35,546 --> 00:12:38,048
<i>Ones that had a different little thing</i>
<i>to go on it.</i>

243
00:12:38,132 --> 00:12:40,134
<i>I would buy just random stuff like that,</i>

244
00:12:40,217 --> 00:12:42,887
<i>and then I would realize,</i>
<i>like, I'm wasting my money</i>

245
00:12:42,970 --> 00:12:44,597
<i>on things that I already have.</i>

246
00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:48,517
{\an8}<i>I bought a scooter. A 150 cc scooter.</i>

247
00:12:48,601 --> 00:12:50,895
{\an8}<i>I thought somehow</i>
<i>that would change my life.</i>

248
00:12:50,978 --> 00:12:54,607
<i>I could imagine myself</i>
<i>riding this in Atlanta.</i>

249
00:12:54,690 --> 00:12:58,444
<i>And if you've ever been</i>
<i>in Atlanta traffic,</i>

250
00:12:59,111 --> 00:13:02,573
<i>the last thing you want to be doing</i>
<i>is riding on a scooter.</i>

251
00:13:02,656 --> 00:13:05,409
<i>I felt like I deserved it.</i>
<i>I felt like I worked really hard,</i>

252
00:13:05,493 --> 00:13:09,288
<i>and these beautiful items would show up</i>
<i>and make me so happy.</i>

253
00:13:09,371 --> 00:13:14,293
<i>And then the feeling of shame</i>
<i>would creep up and guilt,</i>

254
00:13:14,376 --> 00:13:17,296
<i>and the bills would show up, um, and I…</i>

255
00:13:17,379 --> 00:13:19,173
<i>It was just a… a bad cycle.</i>

256
00:13:24,345 --> 00:13:26,180
<i>[Joshua] You know,</i>
<i>it's strange in retrospect,</i>

257
00:13:26,263 --> 00:13:28,974
<i>but I didn't realize we were poor</i>
<i>when I was a kid.</i>

258
00:13:29,058 --> 00:13:31,101
<i>We were on food stamps</i>
<i>and government assistance,</i>

259
00:13:31,185 --> 00:13:33,312
<i>but that seemed totally normal to me.</i>

260
00:13:33,813 --> 00:13:35,523
<i>Poverty was sort of like oxygen.</i>

261
00:13:35,606 --> 00:13:38,567
<i>It was all around me,</i>
<i>but I couldn't see it.</i>

262
00:13:38,651 --> 00:13:40,778
<i>It was just there.</i>

263
00:13:41,529 --> 00:13:45,866
<i>Shortly after I was born, my father's</i>
<i>mental health took a turn for the worse,</i>

264
00:13:45,950 --> 00:13:48,536
<i>and that's when everything</i>
<i>started to change.</i>

265
00:13:49,036 --> 00:13:50,871
<i>You see, when Mom married my dad,</i>

266
00:13:50,955 --> 00:13:54,667
<i>she didn't realize he suffered</i>
<i>from manic depression and schizophrenia,</i>

267
00:13:54,750 --> 00:13:57,211
<i>but she found out pretty quickly.</i>

268
00:13:58,295 --> 00:14:01,966
<i>And Dad's mental illness</i>
<i>was only amplified by his alcoholism,</i>

269
00:14:02,049 --> 00:14:06,595
<i>which made him mean, and aggressive,</i>
<i>and completely unpredictable.</i>

270
00:14:07,763 --> 00:14:11,225
<i>I guess the physical abuse started</i>
<i>around the time I was three years old.</i>

271
00:14:11,308 --> 00:14:13,978
<i>In fact, my very first memory as a child</i>

272
00:14:14,061 --> 00:14:18,566
<i>is of my father extinguishing a cigarette</i>
<i>on my mom's bare chest.</i>

273
00:14:19,733 --> 00:14:24,530
<i>Things only got worse from there,</i>
<i>until, eventually, we escaped.</i>

274
00:14:25,573 --> 00:14:28,993
<i>Mom and I moved 20 miles south</i>
<i>to a suburb of Dayton,</i>

275
00:14:29,076 --> 00:14:30,578
<i>which sounds nice, right?</i>

276
00:14:30,661 --> 00:14:31,829
<i>The suburbs!</i>

277
00:14:32,830 --> 00:14:34,874
<i>But it wasn't really nice at all.</i>

278
00:14:40,212 --> 00:14:42,298
<i>It's gonna be right up here on the right.</i>

279
00:14:44,550 --> 00:14:47,011
<i>You see that green house right there?</i>
<i>That's it.</i>

280
00:14:49,805 --> 00:14:52,933
<i>-[turn signal clicking]</i>
<i>-Oh, man.</i>

281
00:14:54,143 --> 00:14:55,060
<i>Look at that.</i>

282
00:14:55,728 --> 00:14:59,982
<i>It's all boarded up,</i>
<i>and it has, like, this wrap on her.</i>

283
00:15:02,151 --> 00:15:04,194
<i>-[car door opens]</i>
<i>-[Joshua] Wanna take a look?</i>

284
00:15:05,029 --> 00:15:07,740
<i>We lived in a house</i>
<i>that was literally falling apart.</i>

285
00:15:07,823 --> 00:15:09,617
<i>The rent was $200 a month.</i>

286
00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,745
<i>Our home always smelled faintly</i>
<i>of empty beer cans</i>

287
00:15:12,828 --> 00:15:14,455
<i>and stale cigarette smoke.</i>

288
00:15:14,538 --> 00:15:15,789
<i>I can still smell it now.</i>

289
00:15:16,373 --> 00:15:19,543
<i>Cockroaches scattered</i>
<i>every time I turned on the kitchen light.</i>

290
00:15:19,627 --> 00:15:21,128
<i>And whenever the power got shut off,</i>

291
00:15:21,211 --> 00:15:24,757
<i>we'd run an extension cord from next door</i>
<i>to keep the TV glowing.</i>

292
00:15:25,674 --> 00:15:27,051
<i>Here's the front door here.</i>

293
00:15:30,137 --> 00:15:31,221
<i>Oh, shit.</i>

294
00:15:32,765 --> 00:15:36,143
<i>It looks like they might have squatters.</i>
<i>It's totally falling apart.</i>

295
00:15:39,605 --> 00:15:43,233
<i>So when we first moved down here,</i>
<i>I know we signed up for food stamps.</i>

296
00:15:43,317 --> 00:15:47,154
<i>As a kid, I didn't know the difference</i>
<i>between the white and green money we had,</i>

297
00:15:47,237 --> 00:15:49,365
<i>because the food stamps</i>
<i>were these white bills,</i>

298
00:15:49,448 --> 00:15:52,534
<i>and then, you know,</i>
<i>green money was just… just money, right?</i>

299
00:15:52,618 --> 00:15:55,537
<i>And she would trade the…</i>

300
00:15:56,872 --> 00:15:59,333
<i>She would trade the white bills…</i>

301
00:16:00,376 --> 00:16:03,837
<i>for the green bills, 'cause you needed</i>
<i>the green bills to buy alcohol.</i>

302
00:16:04,505 --> 00:16:07,466
<i>And so, she'd buy</i>
<i>whatever beer was cheapest.</i>

303
00:16:07,549 --> 00:16:11,595
<i>You know, Milwaukee's Best</i>
<i>or the bottom-shelf bottles of wine.</i>

304
00:16:12,721 --> 00:16:16,392
<i>I'd come home each day from school…</i>
<i>I was about six.</i>

305
00:16:17,059 --> 00:16:23,440
<i>I would find Mom just passed out</i>
<i>on the couch day after day after day.</i>

306
00:16:23,524 --> 00:16:25,776
<i>It became this normal occurrence and…</i>

307
00:16:27,945 --> 00:16:31,240
<i>I feel like</i>
<i>I didn't realize it at the time,</i>

308
00:16:31,323 --> 00:16:35,411
<i>but I kind of thought it was…</i>
<i>kind of thought it was my fault, you know.</i>

309
00:16:37,037 --> 00:16:40,249
<i>As things started unraveling,</i>
<i>Mom's drinking got worse.</i>

310
00:16:40,749 --> 00:16:44,920
<i>Now don't get me wrong, my mom</i>
<i>was a good person with a good heart</i>

311
00:16:45,004 --> 00:16:46,797
<i>and a hilarious sense of humor.</i>

312
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,676
<i>Somewhere along the way, she'd simply lost</i>
<i>a sense of meaning in her life.</i>

313
00:16:50,759 --> 00:16:53,262
<i>And I knew</i>
<i>the only way for me to break the cycle,</i>

314
00:16:53,345 --> 00:16:56,140
<i>the only way for me to find</i>
<i>the meaning that she'd lost,</i>

315
00:16:56,223 --> 00:16:58,392
<i>was to make a lot of money when I grew up.</i>

316
00:17:01,895 --> 00:17:03,814
<i>I remember back when I was a teenager,</i>

317
00:17:04,356 --> 00:17:07,067
<i>I spent most of my summers</i>
<i>working for my dad,</i>

318
00:17:07,151 --> 00:17:09,319
<i>painting and hanging wallpaper.</i>

319
00:17:09,403 --> 00:17:12,865
<i>And you should have seen</i>
<i>some of the houses we worked in.</i>

320
00:17:12,948 --> 00:17:16,201
<i>Some of them were unbelievably fancy.</i>

321
00:17:16,827 --> 00:17:19,038
<i>Ten thousand square foot garages,</i>

322
00:17:19,121 --> 00:17:21,040
<i>indoor swimming pools,</i>

323
00:17:21,123 --> 00:17:22,750
<i>private bowling alleys.</i>

324
00:17:23,250 --> 00:17:27,713
<i>Nothing I aspired to own myself,</i>
<i>but it was pretty impressive.</i>

325
00:17:27,796 --> 00:17:33,469
<i>And then, one day, we started to work</i>
<i>on this really, really nice house.</i>

326
00:17:33,552 --> 00:17:36,305
<i>It wasn't like</i>
<i>a multi-million-dollar nice house,</i>

327
00:17:36,388 --> 00:17:39,600
<i>but it was something nicer</i>
<i>than my mom or dad had ever owned.</i>

328
00:17:39,683 --> 00:17:41,351
<i>The walls in their home,</i>

329
00:17:41,435 --> 00:17:44,730
<i>they were decorated with the smiling faces</i>
<i>of friends and family</i>

330
00:17:44,813 --> 00:17:47,149
<i>that affirmed the happiness</i>
<i>in their lives.</i>

331
00:17:47,232 --> 00:17:51,695
<i>And the stuff in their home,</i>
<i>it filled every nook and cranny.</i>

332
00:17:52,279 --> 00:17:54,406
<i>I pictured myself living there.</i>

333
00:17:54,490 --> 00:17:59,495
<i>I pictured how happy I would be</i>
<i>if I could just own a house like that,</i>

334
00:17:59,578 --> 00:18:01,705
<i>filled with all that stuff.</i>

335
00:18:02,998 --> 00:18:05,584
<i>So, I turned to my dad and I asked him,</i>

336
00:18:05,667 --> 00:18:09,713
<i>"How much do I need to make</i>
<i>in order to own a house like this?"</i>

337
00:18:10,714 --> 00:18:15,427
<i>He looked at me and he said,</i>
<i>"Son, if you can make $50,0000 a year,</i>

338
00:18:15,928 --> 00:18:18,806
<i>you could probably afford</i>
<i>a place like this."</i>

339
00:18:19,306 --> 00:18:22,768
<i>So that became my benchmark. $50,000.</i>

340
00:18:23,894 --> 00:18:26,396
<i>Then, during my senior year</i>
<i>of high school,</i>

341
00:18:26,897 --> 00:18:30,943
<i>Josh and I, we were sitting</i>
<i>at the lonely lunchroom table together,</i>

342
00:18:31,026 --> 00:18:31,902
<i>and we started to talk</i>

343
00:18:31,985 --> 00:18:35,614
<i>about what we were going to do</i>
<i>with our lives after we graduated.</i>

344
00:18:35,697 --> 00:18:38,242
<i>So I told him,</i>
<i>"I don't know what I'm going to do,</i>

345
00:18:38,325 --> 00:18:43,163
<i>but if I can find a way</i>
<i>to make $50,000 a year,</i>

346
00:18:43,664 --> 00:18:45,249
<i>I know that I'll be happy."</i>

347
00:18:46,250 --> 00:18:49,545
<i>So that's what I went and did.</i>
<i>That's what Josh went and did.</i>

348
00:18:49,628 --> 00:18:53,423
<i>We got sales jobs</i>
<i>and we started earning 50 grand.</i>

349
00:18:54,383 --> 00:18:55,759
<i>But something went wrong.</i>

350
00:18:55,843 --> 00:18:58,804
<i>I wasn't happy.</i>
<i>I had to go back to the drawing board.</i>

351
00:18:58,887 --> 00:19:01,974
<i>And thank goodness,</i>
<i>I found out what had happened.</i>

352
00:19:02,683 --> 00:19:05,394
<i>I forgot to adjust for inflation.</i>

353
00:19:06,645 --> 00:19:07,813
<i>So I thought to myself,</i>

354
00:19:07,896 --> 00:19:11,483
<i>"Well, maybe $65,000 a year,</i>
<i>maybe that was happiness.</i>

355
00:19:11,567 --> 00:19:13,277
<i>Or maybe 90,000,</i>

356
00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:15,696
<i>or maybe six figures,</i>

357
00:19:15,779 --> 00:19:19,366
<i>or maybe owning a bunch of stuff.</i>

358
00:19:19,449 --> 00:19:21,702
<i>Maybe that was happiness."</i>

359
00:19:21,785 --> 00:19:23,453
<i>Whatever happiness was,</i>

360
00:19:23,954 --> 00:19:28,542
<i>I knew, once I got there,</i>
<i>I'd finally feel free.</i>

361
00:19:29,501 --> 00:19:33,839
<i>I bought new cars, and electronics,</i>
<i>and closets full of expensive clothes.</i>

362
00:19:33,922 --> 00:19:36,717
<i>I bought expensive home decorations</i>
<i>and furniture,</i>

363
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:39,428
<i>and I always had the latest gadgets.</i>

364
00:19:39,511 --> 00:19:43,390
<i>And when there wasn't enough cash</i>
<i>in the bank, I paid for expensive meals,</i>

365
00:19:43,473 --> 00:19:47,477
<i>rounds of drinks, and frivolous vacations</i>
<i>with credit cards.</i>

366
00:19:48,103 --> 00:19:53,525
<i>As I made more money, I spent more money,</i>
<i>all in the pursuit of happiness.</i>

367
00:19:53,609 --> 00:19:56,486
<i>All in the pursuit of the American dream.</i>

368
00:19:58,113 --> 00:19:59,656
<i>[man] One thing I think is unique is</i>

369
00:19:59,740 --> 00:20:03,118
<i>when you're an immigrant,</i>
<i>the American dream is still a good thing.</i>

370
00:20:03,202 --> 00:20:05,913
{\an8}<i>I think it's only people</i>
<i>who grew up in the American dream</i>

371
00:20:05,996 --> 00:20:07,539
{\an8}<i>that no longer value the American dream,</i>

372
00:20:07,623 --> 00:20:09,249
{\an8}<i>because it's become</i>
<i>the American nightmare.</i>

373
00:20:09,333 --> 00:20:13,545
<i>[Annie] People in the US work longer hours</i>
<i>than almost any industrialized country,</i>

374
00:20:13,629 --> 00:20:17,466
<i>depending on which data you look at,</i>
<i>but we work enormously long hours.</i>

375
00:20:17,549 --> 00:20:21,220
<i>We work as long hours</i>
<i>as people did during feudal society.</i>

376
00:20:21,303 --> 00:20:23,847
<i>We have such short vacations, if any.</i>

377
00:20:23,931 --> 00:20:26,183
<i>Half the country doesn't even take</i>
<i>two weeks of vacation.</i>

378
00:20:26,266 --> 00:20:28,560
<i>We're commuting longer hours</i>
<i>than ever before,</i>

379
00:20:28,644 --> 00:20:32,814
<i>and then we're spending more time alone</i>
<i>in front of screens than ever before.</i>

380
00:20:32,898 --> 00:20:36,235
<i>We're losing the stuff</i>
<i>that actually makes us happy</i>

381
00:20:36,318 --> 00:20:38,487
<i>and makes society more safe and secure,</i>

382
00:20:38,570 --> 00:20:39,863
{\an8}<i>which is community.</i>

383
00:20:40,364 --> 00:20:41,865
{\an8}<i>Um, we're losing that</i>

384
00:20:41,949 --> 00:20:45,244
{\an8}<i>and changing that time</i>
<i>to work and buy more stuff.</i>

385
00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:50,874
<i>[Erwin] What you don't want in your life</i>
<i>is this endless horizon of aspiration.</i>

386
00:20:50,958 --> 00:20:53,460
<i>"I just need a bit more of this</i>
<i>or a little bit more of that.</i>

387
00:20:53,543 --> 00:20:55,879
<i>I need more success,</i>
<i>more income, more wealth,</i>

388
00:20:55,963 --> 00:21:00,592
<i>a bigger house, bigger car, bigger this,"</i>
<i>because that's just an endless black hole.</i>

389
00:21:00,676 --> 00:21:03,303
{\an8}<i>When we get all of the things</i>
<i>that we want,</i>

390
00:21:03,387 --> 00:21:08,225
{\an8}<i>we tend to be wrong in the predictions</i>
<i>that we made about how happy we would be,</i>

391
00:21:08,308 --> 00:21:10,727
<i>because the brain normalizes those things.</i>

392
00:21:10,811 --> 00:21:13,230
<i>After a few months of that,</i>
<i>you normalize it,</i>

393
00:21:13,313 --> 00:21:15,899
<i>and you say,</i>
<i>"All right, that was great at the time,</i>

394
00:21:15,983 --> 00:21:19,319
<i>but now I have a new set of desires,</i>
<i>a new set of dreams,"</i>

395
00:21:19,403 --> 00:21:21,571
<i>and everything that is the ceiling today</i>

396
00:21:21,655 --> 00:21:25,993
<i>becomes just the ground floor</i>
<i>for a new level you're trying to get to.</i>

397
00:21:26,076 --> 00:21:29,913
{\an8}<i>And so, really what the American dream is</i>
<i>is this sense of freedom.</i>

398
00:21:29,997 --> 00:21:33,250
{\an8}<i>Now how do you get that?</i>
<i>Just by gathering up more money?</i>

399
00:21:33,333 --> 00:21:34,251
{\an8}<i>Nope, won't do it.</i>

400
00:21:34,876 --> 00:21:36,920
<i>Not if you gather up yet more stuff</i>

401
00:21:37,546 --> 00:21:40,507
<i>to go with your more money,</i>
<i>because you're still gonna be teetering.</i>

402
00:21:40,590 --> 00:21:43,385
<i>You just added zeros to your stupidity</i>
<i>is all you did then.</i>

403
00:21:43,468 --> 00:21:48,807
<i>And so, what happens is you have to learn</i>
<i>to contract your, in quotes, "needs,"</i>

404
00:21:48,890 --> 00:21:52,269
<i>so that you can create</i>
<i>a buffer around your life</i>

405
00:21:52,352 --> 00:21:54,855
<i>and create this independence</i>
<i>to where you've got enough savings</i>

406
00:21:54,938 --> 00:21:58,066
<i>that you can say, "Take this job</i>
<i>and shove it," if you need to.</i>

407
00:21:58,150 --> 00:22:00,652
<i>You don't have a bunch of debt</i>
<i>pounding down on your head,</i>

408
00:22:00,736 --> 00:22:03,613
<i>buying things that you don't really need</i>

409
00:22:03,697 --> 00:22:05,490
<i>with money you don't really have</i>

410
00:22:05,574 --> 00:22:07,576
<i>to impress people</i>
<i>you don't even really like.</i>

411
00:22:07,659 --> 00:22:10,996
<i>And so, what you've done there</i>
<i>is you gave up your independence,</i>

412
00:22:11,079 --> 00:22:13,123
<i>you gave up your freedom…</i>

413
00:22:13,999 --> 00:22:16,626
<i>in return for some stuff</i>

414
00:22:16,710 --> 00:22:19,921
<i>that's gonna be worth nothing</i>
<i>in next year's garage sale.</i>

415
00:22:20,005 --> 00:22:24,009
<i>[Erwin] You almost have buyer's remorse,</i>
<i>and you also have this gambler's dilemma</i>

416
00:22:24,092 --> 00:22:26,428
<i>where you gambled for this</i>
<i>and now you have it.</i>

417
00:22:26,511 --> 00:22:29,431
<i>Do you want to give it up</i>
<i>even though it makes you unhappy?</i>

418
00:22:29,931 --> 00:22:32,100
<i>So I think a part of the process</i>
<i>for all of us</i>

419
00:22:32,184 --> 00:22:35,145
<i>is making sure we actually</i>
<i>are going after what we truly want.</i>

420
00:22:35,228 --> 00:22:38,273
<i>And when we have something,</i>
<i>to do an honest evaluation of going,</i>

421
00:22:38,357 --> 00:22:41,777
<i>"Is this something I want to define</i>
<i>my life? Do I really want to keep this?"</i>

422
00:22:44,738 --> 00:22:48,367
<i>[Ryan] Chasing the American dream,</i>
<i>it cost me so much more than money.</i>

423
00:22:48,450 --> 00:22:53,246
<i>My life was filled with stress,</i>
<i>and anxiety, and discontent.</i>

424
00:22:53,872 --> 00:22:57,501
<i>It got to a point in my life</i>
<i>where I didn't know what was important.</i>

425
00:22:57,584 --> 00:22:59,086
<i>But one thing was clear.</i>

426
00:22:59,586 --> 00:23:03,465
<i>I had this gaping void in my life.</i>

427
00:23:03,548 --> 00:23:09,221
<i>So I tried to fill that void</i>
<i>the same way many people do, with stuff.</i>

428
00:23:09,888 --> 00:23:13,975
<i>I continued to work 60, 70,</i>
<i>sometimes 80 hours a week,</i>

429
00:23:14,059 --> 00:23:17,396
<i>forsaking some of the most important</i>
<i>aspects of my life.</i>

430
00:23:17,479 --> 00:23:21,066
<i>I barely thought about my health,</i>
<i>or my relationships,</i>

431
00:23:21,149 --> 00:23:23,193
<i>or things that I was passionate about.</i>

432
00:23:23,276 --> 00:23:25,362
<i>I was living paycheck to paycheck.</i>

433
00:23:25,445 --> 00:23:27,322
<i>Living for a paycheck.</i>

434
00:23:27,406 --> 00:23:29,032
<i>Living for stuff.</i>

435
00:23:30,534 --> 00:23:33,161
<i>[Joshua] It's like I was swerving</i>
<i>from credit card purchases</i>

436
00:23:33,245 --> 00:23:34,913
<i>to reckless spending</i>

437
00:23:34,996 --> 00:23:40,335
<i>to accumulating debt to maintain</i>
<i>a lifestyle I didn't even enjoy.</i>

438
00:23:41,002 --> 00:23:44,506
<i>I had all of the stuff to fill</i>
<i>every corner of my consumer-driven life.</i>

439
00:23:44,589 --> 00:23:49,594
<i>Giant televisions, fine china,</i>
<i>stainless steel appliances,</i>

440
00:23:49,678 --> 00:23:53,932
<i>marble countertops,</i>
<i>expensive watches, tailored suits</i>

441
00:23:54,015 --> 00:23:57,978
<i>and more, and more, and so much more.</i>

442
00:23:59,271 --> 00:24:03,733
<i>Then, toward the end of 2008,</i>
<i>actually it was two days before Christmas,</i>

443
00:24:04,276 --> 00:24:05,610
<i>I got a phone call from Mom.</i>

444
00:24:06,528 --> 00:24:08,947
<i>She had just moved down to Florida</i>
<i>earlier that year</i>

445
00:24:09,030 --> 00:24:11,741
<i>to finally retire on Social Security.</i>

446
00:24:12,409 --> 00:24:18,081
<i>But on December 23rd, she found out</i>
<i>she had Stage IV lung cancer.</i>

447
00:24:19,916 --> 00:24:22,419
<i>And in less than a year, she was gone.</i>

448
00:24:23,587 --> 00:24:26,381
<i>I spent a lot of time with Mom</i>
<i>that year down in Florida</i>

449
00:24:26,465 --> 00:24:30,343
<i>as she struggled</i>
<i>through her chemo and radiation.</i>

450
00:24:30,427 --> 00:24:33,972
<i>But when she passed, I realized</i>
<i>I needed to make one last visit.</i>

451
00:24:34,681 --> 00:24:37,309
<i>And this time,</i>
<i>it was to deal with her stuff.</i>

452
00:24:38,310 --> 00:24:42,439
<i>So I flew from Dayton, Ohio,</i>
<i>down to St. Pete Beach, Florida.</i>

453
00:24:43,106 --> 00:24:45,192
<i>When I arrived, do you know what I found?</i>

454
00:24:57,662 --> 00:24:58,580
<i>Stuff.</i>

455
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:03,668
<i>Like three houses worth of stuff crammed</i>
<i>into Mom's tiny one-bedroom apartment.</i>

456
00:25:03,752 --> 00:25:06,087
<i>Now, it's not like Mom was a hoarder.</i>

457
00:25:06,171 --> 00:25:08,924
<i>I mean, I didn't find any dead cats</i>
<i>in her freezer.</i>

458
00:25:09,633 --> 00:25:11,551
<i>But she owned a lot of stuff.</i>

459
00:25:12,135 --> 00:25:14,638
<i>Sixty-five years' worth of accumulations.</i>

460
00:25:14,721 --> 00:25:16,681
<i>Did you know</i>
<i>the average American household</i>

461
00:25:16,765 --> 00:25:19,184
<i>has more than 300,000 items in it?</i>

462
00:25:19,601 --> 00:25:21,019
<i>300,000!</i>

463
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:25,649
<i>Just take a look around at your average</i>
<i>basement, or attic, or garage.</i>

464
00:25:25,732 --> 00:25:26,608
<i>What do you see?</i>

465
00:25:26,691 --> 00:25:29,819
<i>Unused sporting goods, exercise equipment,</i>

466
00:25:29,903 --> 00:25:32,948
<i>camping gear, holiday decorations,</i>

467
00:25:33,031 --> 00:25:35,909
<i>musical instruments, spare parts,</i>

468
00:25:35,992 --> 00:25:37,911
<i>outdated electronics,</i>

469
00:25:37,994 --> 00:25:41,414
<i>random cords and miscellaneous cables,</i>

470
00:25:41,498 --> 00:25:45,043
<i>magazines, and cassette tapes,</i>
<i>and compact discs,</i>

471
00:25:45,126 --> 00:25:48,004
<i>tchotchkes, and knickknacks, and trinkets,</i>

472
00:25:48,088 --> 00:25:51,132
<i>and all the things</i>
<i>we forgot we even owned.</i>

473
00:25:51,216 --> 00:25:57,013
<i>Boxes, and bins,</i>
<i>and entire rooms stuffed with stuff.</i>

474
00:25:58,223 --> 00:26:01,768
{\an8}<i>We had so much. So much stuff.</i>

475
00:26:01,851 --> 00:26:03,979
{\an8}<i>My closet was out of control.</i>

476
00:26:04,062 --> 00:26:07,649
{\an8}<i>So I had a closet full of clothes.</i>
<i>I had a dresser full of clothes.</i>

477
00:26:07,732 --> 00:26:10,652
{\an8}<i>Photography equipment, bicycle equipment.</i>

478
00:26:10,735 --> 00:26:12,571
{\an8}<i>Skin care products, beauty products.</i>

479
00:26:12,654 --> 00:26:14,447
{\an8}<i>Shoes, purses.</i>

480
00:26:14,531 --> 00:26:16,700
{\an8}<i>I'd open the closet, stuff would fall out.</i>

481
00:26:16,783 --> 00:26:19,244
<i>I don't know why,</i>
<i>but I had three soccer cleats,</i>

482
00:26:19,327 --> 00:26:22,163
<i>even though</i>
<i>I don't really even play soccer. [laughs]</i>

483
00:26:22,247 --> 00:26:25,125
{\an8}<i>You know, things people had given me</i>
<i>throughout the years,</i>

484
00:26:25,208 --> 00:26:27,919
{\an8}<i>whether those be cards, or objects,</i>

485
00:26:28,003 --> 00:26:31,298
{\an8}<i>or tokens that I'd kept</i>
<i>from different events we'd gone to.</i>

486
00:26:31,381 --> 00:26:34,551
{\an8}<i>But it was just a never-ending,</i>
<i>uh, you know, turnstile</i>

487
00:26:34,634 --> 00:26:36,595
{\an8}<i>of, uh, "I need this. I need that."</i>

488
00:26:37,345 --> 00:26:39,139
<i>[woman] It's so easy to buy things</i>

489
00:26:39,222 --> 00:26:42,100
<i>that we think are the solution</i>
<i>to our problems.</i>

490
00:26:42,183 --> 00:26:46,187
{\an8}<i>I remember when I had babies,</i>
<i>and I really wanted them to sleep well,</i>

491
00:26:46,271 --> 00:26:50,442
{\an8}<i>and I thought I just needed the perfect</i>
<i>sleep device in order to make that happen.</i>

492
00:26:50,525 --> 00:26:53,069
<i>So I had probably</i>
<i>four different types of swaddles,</i>

493
00:26:53,153 --> 00:26:55,780
<i>multiple different types</i>
<i>of zip-up sleep devices.</i>

494
00:26:55,864 --> 00:26:59,451
<i>There are… If you go on Amazon,</i>
<i>you can find there are dozens and dozens</i>

495
00:26:59,534 --> 00:27:03,330
<i>of different types of mechanisms</i>
<i>to get babies to sleep.</i>

496
00:27:03,413 --> 00:27:05,498
<i>Pieces of equipment that you can buy.</i>

497
00:27:05,582 --> 00:27:10,712
<i>But the reality is that getting babies</i>
<i>to sleep is just really hard,</i>

498
00:27:10,795 --> 00:27:15,425
<i>and we can fall into this trap of trying</i>
<i>to buy our way out of the hard times.</i>

499
00:27:15,508 --> 00:27:19,304
<i>And it's… it's often not very successful</i>
<i>and very expensive.</i>

500
00:27:19,387 --> 00:27:22,515
<i>[T.K.] I actually think the best way</i>
<i>to know if you have too many things</i>

501
00:27:22,599 --> 00:27:25,852
<i>isn't by waiting to see</i>
<i>if you run out of room to keep them,</i>

502
00:27:25,935 --> 00:27:30,231
<i>but asking yourself if you've run out</i>
<i>of purposeful things to do with them.</i>

503
00:27:30,315 --> 00:27:32,609
{\an8}<i>When you've run out of purposeful things</i>
<i>to do with things,</i>

504
00:27:32,692 --> 00:27:35,862
{\an8}<i>even if you only have one thing,</i>
<i>you already have too many things.</i>

505
00:27:35,945 --> 00:27:40,784
{\an8}<i>The reason we are so depressed</i>
<i>and so empty when we have so much</i>

506
00:27:41,534 --> 00:27:45,413
{\an8}<i>is that if you get more</i>
<i>of the wrong thing, it becomes less.</i>

507
00:27:45,497 --> 00:27:47,999
<i>There are deeper things that…</i>
<i>that fulfill us.</i>

508
00:27:48,083 --> 00:27:50,210
<i>Our need for meaning,</i>
<i>our need for progress,</i>

509
00:27:50,293 --> 00:27:52,003
<i>our need for intimacy.</i>

510
00:27:52,629 --> 00:27:55,131
<i>The reason the message of minimalism</i>
<i>is so powerful</i>

511
00:27:55,215 --> 00:27:59,052
<i>is because we're bingeing</i>
<i>on all the wrong things,</i>

512
00:27:59,594 --> 00:28:03,098
<i>and we're dying of hunger</i>
<i>for the things that really matter.</i>

513
00:28:06,976 --> 00:28:10,438
<i>But, of course,</i>
<i>most of us aren't hoarders, right?</i>

514
00:28:11,856 --> 00:28:12,941
<i>No.</i>

515
00:28:13,024 --> 00:28:14,943
<i>We just hold on to a lot of stuff.</i>

516
00:28:15,026 --> 00:28:17,445
<i>We hold on to a lifetime</i>
<i>of collected memories.</i>

517
00:28:18,071 --> 00:28:22,200
<i>I know Mom certainly did, and I had</i>
<i>no idea what to do with any of it.</i>

518
00:28:25,161 --> 00:28:27,580
<i>So I did what any good son would do.</i>

519
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:29,958
<i>I called U-Haul.</i>

520
00:28:30,709 --> 00:28:33,628
<i>I called U-Haul, and I asked</i>
<i>for the largest truck they had.</i>

521
00:28:33,712 --> 00:28:36,548
<i>In fact, I needed one so large</i>
<i>I had to wait an extra day</i>

522
00:28:36,631 --> 00:28:39,175
<i>until the 26-foot truck was available.</i>

523
00:28:39,259 --> 00:28:42,721
<i>As I waited for that U-Haul to arrive,</i>
<i>I invited some of Mom's friends over</i>

524
00:28:42,804 --> 00:28:44,597
<i>to help me sort through her stuff.</i>

525
00:28:44,681 --> 00:28:49,728
<i>I mean, there was just too much stuff</i>
<i>to go at it alone.</i>

526
00:28:50,395 --> 00:28:53,440
<i>Her living room was stuffed</i>
<i>with big antique furniture,</i>

527
00:28:53,523 --> 00:28:55,108
<i>and old paintings,</i>

528
00:28:55,191 --> 00:28:57,777
<i>and more doilies than I could count.</i>

529
00:28:57,861 --> 00:28:59,320
<i>And her kitchen was stuffed</i>

530
00:28:59,404 --> 00:29:01,698
<i>with hundreds of plates,</i>
<i>and cups, and bowls,</i>

531
00:29:01,781 --> 00:29:03,992
<i>and ill-assorted utensils.</i>

532
00:29:04,075 --> 00:29:06,494
<i>And her bathroom was stuffed</i>

533
00:29:06,578 --> 00:29:10,498
<i>with enough makeup,</i>
<i>and face creams, and hygiene products</i>

534
00:29:10,582 --> 00:29:13,001
<i>to start a small beauty supply business.</i>

535
00:29:13,084 --> 00:29:16,588
<i>And it looked like someone was running</i>
<i>a hotel out of her linen closet,</i>

536
00:29:16,671 --> 00:29:19,799
<i>which was stuffed</i>
<i>with mismatched bath towels,</i>

537
00:29:19,883 --> 00:29:21,926
<i>beach towels, and dish towels.</i>

538
00:29:22,010 --> 00:29:24,429
<i>Don't even get me started</i>
<i>on Mom's bedroom.</i>

539
00:29:24,512 --> 00:29:29,267
<i>I mean, why did Mom have 14 winter coats</i>
<i>stuffed into her bedroom closet?</i>

540
00:29:29,809 --> 00:29:33,271
<i>Come on. She lived in St. Pete Beach.</i>

541
00:29:35,732 --> 00:29:40,361
<i>So anyway, there I was attempting</i>
<i>to finish packing all of Mom's stuff</i>

542
00:29:40,445 --> 00:29:42,906
<i>when I looked under her bed.</i>

543
00:29:47,535 --> 00:29:51,623
<i>I noticed these four boxes,</i>
<i>these old printer paper boxes.</i>

544
00:29:51,706 --> 00:29:52,707
<i>Kind of heavy,</i>

545
00:29:52,791 --> 00:29:55,084
<i>sealed with excessive amounts</i>
<i>of packing tape.</i>

546
00:29:56,002 --> 00:29:57,670
<i>I noticed each box was labeled</i>

547
00:29:57,754 --> 00:30:00,757
<i>with just a number written on the side</i>
<i>in thick black marker.</i>

548
00:30:01,883 --> 00:30:02,926
<i>And I stood there…</i>

549
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:04,677
<i>looking down…</i>

550
00:30:05,887 --> 00:30:09,224
<i>wondering what could possibly</i>
<i>be inside those boxes.</i>

551
00:30:14,020 --> 00:30:16,856
<i>Turns out it was</i>
<i>my old elementary school paperwork.</i>

552
00:30:17,690 --> 00:30:19,776
<i>Grades one through four.</i>

553
00:30:20,819 --> 00:30:23,321
<i>As I opened those boxes,</i>
<i>my curiosity ran wild,</i>

554
00:30:23,404 --> 00:30:27,325
<i>and I thought to myself, "Why was Mom</i>
<i>holding on to all that stupid paperwork?"</i>

555
00:30:28,076 --> 00:30:31,704
<i>But then all these memories</i>
<i>came rushing back, and it was obvious.</i>

556
00:30:34,582 --> 00:30:37,460
<i>Mom had been holding on to a piece of me.</i>

557
00:30:38,044 --> 00:30:41,589
<i>Mom was holding on to all the memories</i>
<i>inside those boxes. Right?</i>

558
00:30:41,673 --> 00:30:42,799
<i>But wait a minute.</i>

559
00:30:42,882 --> 00:30:45,760
<i>Those boxes had been sealed</i>
<i>for more than two decades.</i>

560
00:30:45,844 --> 00:30:50,849
<i>It was clear Mom hadn't been accessing</i>
<i>any of the memories inside those boxes,</i>

561
00:30:50,932 --> 00:30:54,394
<i>which helped me understand</i>
<i>something important for the first time.</i>

562
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,231
<i>Our memories are not in our things.</i>

563
00:30:59,315 --> 00:31:01,317
<i>Our memories are inside us.</i>

564
00:31:01,401 --> 00:31:03,736
<i>You see,</i>
<i>Mom didn't need to hold on to those boxes</i>

565
00:31:03,820 --> 00:31:05,238
<i>to hold on to a piece of me.</i>

566
00:31:05,905 --> 00:31:07,699
<i>I was never inside those boxes.</i>

567
00:31:08,533 --> 00:31:12,412
<i>But then I looked around her apartment,</i>
<i>I looked around at all her stuff,</i>

568
00:31:12,495 --> 00:31:15,623
<i>and I realized I was getting ready</i>
<i>to do the same thing.</i>

569
00:31:15,707 --> 00:31:17,458
<i>If I'm being honest with myself,</i>

570
00:31:17,542 --> 00:31:20,503
<i>I was just gonna selfishly cling</i>
<i>to most of Mom's stuff.</i>

571
00:31:20,587 --> 00:31:23,172
<i>But, of course,</i>
<i>I wasn't gonna get any real value from it</i>

572
00:31:23,256 --> 00:31:25,425
<i>as it sat there locked away in perpetuity.</i>

573
00:31:25,508 --> 00:31:27,468
<i>But the truth is that, by letting go,</i>

574
00:31:27,552 --> 00:31:29,929
<i>I realized I could add value</i>
<i>to other people's lives.</i>

575
00:31:30,013 --> 00:31:34,601
<i>So I donated most of her stuff</i>
<i>to her friends and to local charities,</i>

576
00:31:34,684 --> 00:31:37,478
<i>finding the stuff a new home.</i>

577
00:31:37,562 --> 00:31:39,439
<i>And the few items I was able to sell,</i>

578
00:31:39,522 --> 00:31:42,233
<i>I was able to take that money</i>
<i>and donate it to the two charities</i>

579
00:31:42,317 --> 00:31:45,278
<i>that helped Mom</i>
<i>through her chemo and radiation.</i>

580
00:31:46,195 --> 00:31:51,034
<i>You see, I realized</i>
<i>I could contribute beyond myself</i>

581
00:31:51,117 --> 00:31:53,119
<i>if I was willing to let go.</i>

582
00:31:54,871 --> 00:31:56,497
<i>When I finally returned to Ohio,</i>

583
00:31:56,581 --> 00:31:59,918
<i>I returned with just a handful</i>
<i>of sentimental items.</i>

584
00:32:00,001 --> 00:32:02,670
<i>An old painting, a few photographs,</i>

585
00:32:02,754 --> 00:32:04,589
<i>maybe even a doily or two,</i>

586
00:32:04,672 --> 00:32:08,009
<i>which helped me understand</i>
<i>that by having fewer sentimental items,</i>

587
00:32:08,092 --> 00:32:11,304
<i>we're able to enjoy</i>
<i>those sentimental items much more.</i>

588
00:32:11,387 --> 00:32:14,265
<i>I get far more value</i>
<i>from the few items I kept</i>

589
00:32:14,349 --> 00:32:18,561
<i>than if I were to water them down</i>
<i>with dozens or even hundreds of trinkets.</i>

590
00:32:18,645 --> 00:32:22,732
<i>Ultimately, I had to let go</i>
<i>of what was weighing me down</i>

591
00:32:22,815 --> 00:32:24,233
<i>before I could move on.</i>

592
00:32:24,776 --> 00:32:25,693
<i>To move on…</i>

593
00:32:26,569 --> 00:32:29,572
<i>I had to take an inventory of my own life.</i>

594
00:32:31,741 --> 00:32:35,078
<i>Turns out I had an organized life.</i>

595
00:32:35,662 --> 00:32:38,748
<i>But really,</i>
<i>I was just a well-organized hoarder.</i>

596
00:32:38,831 --> 00:32:40,792
<i>And if you would've looked</i>
<i>beneath the surface,</i>

597
00:32:40,875 --> 00:32:43,878
<i>you would have found a lifetime</i>
<i>of unchecked consumption.</i>

598
00:32:44,504 --> 00:32:46,297
<i>As companies continue to innovate,</i>

599
00:32:46,381 --> 00:32:49,592
<i>our ability to show restraint</i>
<i>is getting more and more difficult.</i>

600
00:32:49,676 --> 00:32:50,885
<i>Outsourced labor</i>

601
00:32:50,969 --> 00:32:54,597
<i>combined with advancements</i>
<i>in shipping, manufacturing, and logistics</i>

602
00:32:54,681 --> 00:32:58,226
<i>has dropped the cost of consumer products</i>
<i>to an all-time low.</i>

603
00:32:58,309 --> 00:33:01,980
<i>And now, with one-click purchasing,</i>
<i>same-day delivery,</i>

604
00:33:02,063 --> 00:33:04,857
<i>and a society</i>
<i>that has normalized credit card debt,</i>

605
00:33:04,941 --> 00:33:06,901
<i>we've dug ourselves into a hole.</i>

606
00:33:07,694 --> 00:33:10,905
<i>The average American</i>
<i>carries four credit cards in their wallet</i>

607
00:33:10,989 --> 00:33:13,992
<i>and the average credit card debt</i>
<i>for indebted households</i>

608
00:33:14,075 --> 00:33:16,661
<i>is more than $16,000.</i>

609
00:33:16,744 --> 00:33:20,915
<i>Each year, we spend more</i>
<i>on shoes, jewelry, and watches</i>

610
00:33:20,999 --> 00:33:22,667
<i>than on higher education.</i>

611
00:33:23,376 --> 00:33:26,629
<i>[Denaye] I remember when I was a kid,</i>
<i>there was something called layaway.</i>

612
00:33:26,713 --> 00:33:29,465
<i>We'd go to the department store</i>
<i>and pick out our school clothes,</i>

613
00:33:29,549 --> 00:33:30,967
<i>and my mom would put it on layaway,</i>

614
00:33:31,050 --> 00:33:34,429
<i>which meant she would go and make payments</i>
<i>once a week for several weeks</i>

615
00:33:34,512 --> 00:33:37,432
<i>until she paid all of it off</i>
<i>when she had all the money paid in.</i>

616
00:33:37,515 --> 00:33:39,434
<i>That's when we got</i>
<i>to bring home the stuff.</i>

617
00:33:39,517 --> 00:33:42,687
{\an8}<i>This concept does not exist now.</i>
<i>If you want the stuff,</i>

618
00:33:42,770 --> 00:33:44,939
{\an8}<i>you put the credit card down</i>
<i>and take it right away.</i>

619
00:33:45,023 --> 00:33:48,484
<i>And I think that functional change</i>
<i>in the way that we buy</i>

620
00:33:48,568 --> 00:33:51,738
<i>has made a difference</i>
<i>in what our expectations are</i>

621
00:33:51,821 --> 00:33:54,574
<i>and a sort of sense of entitlement</i>
<i>about what we should have,</i>

622
00:33:54,657 --> 00:33:57,994
<i>and when we should have it,</i>
<i>and if we should have to wait for it.</i>

623
00:33:58,077 --> 00:34:02,373
<i>[Dave] America, sadly, has gotten</i>
<i>increasingly emotionally immature.</i>

624
00:34:02,457 --> 00:34:04,876
{\an8}<i>"I want it, and I want it now,</i>

625
00:34:04,959 --> 00:34:07,128
{\an8}<i>and I deserve it because I breathe air."</i>

626
00:34:07,754 --> 00:34:10,339
{\an8}<i>This is a four-year-old child</i>
<i>in the cereal aisle</i>

627
00:34:10,423 --> 00:34:12,633
<i>throwing a fit</i>
<i>because they can't have Froot Loops.</i>

628
00:34:13,426 --> 00:34:16,888
<i>And yet it's a 54-year-old woman</i>
<i>I'm talking to or man I'm talking to,</i>

629
00:34:16,971 --> 00:34:19,265
<i>'cause he can't buy</i>
<i>this little item he wants,</i>

630
00:34:19,348 --> 00:34:21,267
<i>'cause he doesn't have the money.</i>

631
00:34:21,350 --> 00:34:25,354
<i>Guess what? You're never gonna have</i>
<i>the money for everything you want.</i>

632
00:34:26,105 --> 00:34:29,942
<i>[T.K.] The kind of debt that creates</i>
<i>the most problems in our society</i>

633
00:34:30,026 --> 00:34:34,072
<i>comes from a felt need</i>
<i>to keep up with appearances.</i>

634
00:34:34,155 --> 00:34:40,286
{\an8}<i>Placing unnecessary burdens on yourself</i>
<i>in order to maintain some kind of image.</i>

635
00:34:40,369 --> 00:34:43,414
<i>If I can't afford a BMW,</i>

636
00:34:43,498 --> 00:34:46,626
<i>but I go into debt</i>
<i>in order to acquire one,</i>

637
00:34:46,709 --> 00:34:50,296
<i>I'm doing that because</i>
<i>I-I want the… the social rewards, right,</i>

638
00:34:50,379 --> 00:34:53,508
<i>of… of being seen</i>
<i>as a certain kind of person.</i>

639
00:34:53,591 --> 00:34:55,510
{\an8}<i>Once your basic needs are met,</i>

640
00:34:55,593 --> 00:34:58,805
{\an8}<i>the way that we as humans</i>
<i>determine what is enough</i>

641
00:34:58,888 --> 00:35:01,140
{\an8}<i>is relative to the people around us.</i>

642
00:35:01,224 --> 00:35:04,602
<i>Um, and so, that's where the saying</i>
<i>"keeping up with the Joneses" came up.</i>

643
00:35:04,685 --> 00:35:07,313
<i>We judge our furniture,</i>
<i>our clothes, our car</i>

644
00:35:07,396 --> 00:35:09,398
<i>based on the people around us.</i>

645
00:35:09,482 --> 00:35:13,486
<i>It used to be that the people around us</i>
<i>were of similar socioeconomic background.</i>

646
00:35:13,569 --> 00:35:16,114
<i>So we were like, "It's cool.</i>
<i>We all got the same stuff."</i>

647
00:35:16,197 --> 00:35:19,742
<i>But now, with the onslaught</i>
<i>of television and social media,</i>

648
00:35:19,826 --> 00:35:23,329
<i>they have what's called the vertical</i>
<i>expansion of our reference group.</i>

649
00:35:23,412 --> 00:35:26,332
<i>Now I'm comparing my hair</i>
<i>to Jennifer Aniston's.</i>

650
00:35:26,415 --> 00:35:28,709
<i>Now I'm comparing my house</i>
<i>to Kim Kardashian's.</i>

651
00:35:28,793 --> 00:35:33,214
<i>I think that we are more stressed</i>
<i>and discontented today than ever before,</i>

652
00:35:33,297 --> 00:35:36,592
<i>because we know so much more,</i>
<i>or we think we know so much more,</i>

653
00:35:36,676 --> 00:35:40,388
<i>about what's going on inside of the house</i>
<i>of our neighbors and our friends.</i>

654
00:35:40,471 --> 00:35:44,851
<i>And the comparison is so much stronger</i>
<i>than in generations past,</i>

655
00:35:44,934 --> 00:35:48,771
<i>and we're constantly comparing our lives</i>
<i>to other people's lives.</i>

656
00:35:48,855 --> 00:35:51,524
<i>And when we do that,</i>
<i>it rarely measures up.</i>

657
00:35:51,607 --> 00:35:53,860
<i>This generation,</i>
<i>more than previous generations,</i>

658
00:35:53,943 --> 00:35:55,695
<i>we have to learn</i>
<i>how to manage our attention,</i>

659
00:35:55,778 --> 00:35:58,906
<i>because there are so many people</i>
<i>competing for it</i>

660
00:35:58,990 --> 00:36:02,034
<i>and telling us, like,</i>
<i>"Look at this, and you'll be happy!"</i>

661
00:36:02,118 --> 00:36:03,995
<i>"Buy this, and you'll be happy!"</i>

662
00:36:04,078 --> 00:36:07,290
<i>And you have to step back from all of that</i>
<i>and say, "No, no, no.</i>

663
00:36:07,373 --> 00:36:09,208
<i>I first need time</i>

664
00:36:09,292 --> 00:36:12,461
<i>to come up with my own ideas</i>
<i>about what's gonna make me happy."</i>

665
00:36:14,922 --> 00:36:17,175
<i>For me,</i>
<i>it all started with that one question.</i>

666
00:36:17,842 --> 00:36:21,387
<i>How might your life be better with less?</i>

667
00:36:21,470 --> 00:36:25,308
<i>By answering that question, I was able</i>
<i>to identify the purpose of minimalism.</i>

668
00:36:25,391 --> 00:36:29,687
<i>Not just the "how to,"</i>
<i>but the more important "why to."</i>

669
00:36:29,770 --> 00:36:31,606
<i>I realized, if I simplified my life,</i>

670
00:36:31,689 --> 00:36:35,318
<i>I'd have more time for my health,</i>
<i>my relationships,</i>

671
00:36:35,401 --> 00:36:37,403
<i>my creativity, my finances,</i>

672
00:36:37,486 --> 00:36:41,032
<i>and I could contribute beyond myself</i>
<i>in a meaningful way.</i>

673
00:36:41,115 --> 00:36:44,911
<i>You see, I was able to understand</i>
<i>the benefits of minimalism</i>

674
00:36:44,994 --> 00:36:47,830
<i>well before I ever cleaned out</i>
<i>a walk-in closet.</i>

675
00:36:47,914 --> 00:36:52,376
<i>And so, when it came time for me</i>
<i>to actually declutter, I started small.</i>

676
00:36:52,460 --> 00:36:54,378
<i>I asked myself another question.</i>

677
00:36:54,462 --> 00:36:57,798
<i>What if you removed</i>
<i>one material possession from your life</i>

678
00:36:57,882 --> 00:37:00,718
<i>each day for a month?</i>
<i>Just one. What would happen?</i>

679
00:37:01,344 --> 00:37:05,473
<i>Let me tell you. I got rid of way more</i>
<i>than 30 items in the first 30 days.</i>

680
00:37:05,556 --> 00:37:07,516
<i>Like way, way more.</i>

681
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:11,520
<i>It became this kind of personal challenge,</i>
<i>discovering what I could get rid of.</i>

682
00:37:11,604 --> 00:37:15,483
<i>So I searched my rooms and closets,</i>
<i>my cabinets and hallways,</i>

683
00:37:15,566 --> 00:37:17,235
<i>my car and office,</i>

684
00:37:17,318 --> 00:37:19,403
<i>rummaging for items to part with,</i>

685
00:37:19,487 --> 00:37:23,324
<i>retaining only the things</i>
<i>that added value to my life.</i>

686
00:37:24,575 --> 00:37:27,161
<i>Pondering each artifact</i>
<i>in my home, I'd ask,</i>

687
00:37:27,662 --> 00:37:30,039
<i>"Does this thing add value to my life?"</i>

688
00:37:30,831 --> 00:37:33,834
<i>The more I asked this question,</i>
<i>the more I gained momentum</i>

689
00:37:33,918 --> 00:37:36,879
<i>and embracing minimalism</i>
<i>got easier by the day.</i>

690
00:37:37,588 --> 00:37:40,925
<i>The more you do it, the freer,</i>
<i>and happier, and lighter you feel,</i>

691
00:37:41,008 --> 00:37:42,551
<i>and the more you wanna throw overboard.</i>

692
00:37:42,635 --> 00:37:45,304
<i>For me, a few shirts led to half a closet.</i>

693
00:37:45,388 --> 00:37:50,476
<i>A few DVDs led to deep-sixing</i>
<i>an entire library of unused discs.</i>

694
00:37:50,559 --> 00:37:51,936
<i>A few decorative items</i>

695
00:37:52,019 --> 00:37:54,814
<i>led to junk drawers</i>
<i>who shed their adjective.</i>

696
00:37:54,897 --> 00:37:59,318
<i>It's a beautiful cycle. The more action</i>
<i>you take, the more you wanna take action.</i>

697
00:38:00,695 --> 00:38:03,197
{\an8}<i>Once I started to get rid of stuff,</i>

698
00:38:03,281 --> 00:38:05,491
{\an8}<i>it was just like the momentum</i>
<i>just took over.</i>

699
00:38:05,574 --> 00:38:08,452
{\an8}<i>It was a snowball that I could not stop.</i>

700
00:38:08,536 --> 00:38:11,455
<i>I was ready to throw out</i>
<i>as many things as possible.</i>

701
00:38:11,539 --> 00:38:15,042
<i>[Rechna] When you open up those drawers</i>
<i>and look at what's in the back of them,</i>

702
00:38:15,126 --> 00:38:17,003
{\an8}<i>I don't think I even realized</i>

703
00:38:17,086 --> 00:38:20,548
{\an8}<i>half the stuff that we had</i>
<i>hidden away in closets and in drawers.</i>

704
00:38:20,631 --> 00:38:24,593
<i>[Victor] It… It really helped by focusing</i>
<i>on just one part of the house,</i>

705
00:38:24,677 --> 00:38:25,928
<i>instead of just thinking,</i>

706
00:38:26,012 --> 00:38:30,141
{\an8}<i>"Oh, wow, I have 35 years of things</i>
<i>in my house that I need to get rid of."</i>

707
00:38:30,224 --> 00:38:33,019
<i>[Michael] We got rid</i>
<i>of our storage rental.</i>

708
00:38:33,102 --> 00:38:35,980
{\an8}<i>A huge storage rental</i>
<i>that we'd been paying for for years</i>

709
00:38:36,063 --> 00:38:38,691
{\an8}<i>and didn't really even know</i>
<i>what was in there, gone.</i>

710
00:38:38,774 --> 00:38:41,610
{\an8}<i>I remember going through my CD collection,</i>

711
00:38:41,694 --> 00:38:45,614
{\an8}<i>and I couldn't even remember</i>
<i>if I had a CD player in my car.</i>

712
00:38:45,698 --> 00:38:49,076
<i>That was the one thing that made me think,</i>
<i>"That's probably a reason</i>

713
00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:53,581
<i>for me not to hold on to these CDs anymore</i>
<i>if I don't even know if I can play them."</i>

714
00:38:53,664 --> 00:38:56,625
{\an8}<i>As I began to get rid of things,</i>

715
00:38:56,709 --> 00:39:00,629
<i>one at a time, I just felt so much freer.</i>

716
00:39:00,713 --> 00:39:01,797
<i>There was freedom.</i>

717
00:39:01,881 --> 00:39:04,967
{\an8}<i>When I started going through it,</i>
<i>I got rid of 14 pairs of pants.</i>

718
00:39:05,051 --> 00:39:06,635
{\an8}<i>I couldn't believe</i>
<i>how high the stack was.</i>

719
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:09,680
<i>And so, I actually, you know,</i>
<i>went through and counted them,</i>

720
00:39:09,764 --> 00:39:12,516
<i>and I'm like,</i>
<i>"14 pairs of pants sitting in the closet!"</i>

721
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:14,143
<i>[Michael] We put our house up for sale,</i>

722
00:39:14,226 --> 00:39:17,146
<i>because</i>
<i>we just wanted to really start fresh</i>

723
00:39:17,229 --> 00:39:19,690
<i>and just grab life, you know, and…</i>

724
00:39:19,774 --> 00:39:20,733
<i>and really be free.</i>

725
00:39:20,816 --> 00:39:24,570
<i>It was a very freeing feeling, um,</i>
<i>to just get started,</i>

726
00:39:24,653 --> 00:39:26,405
<i>and so I… I ran with it.</i>

727
00:39:29,367 --> 00:39:32,536
<i>[Joshua] Over the course of eight months</i>
<i>after my mother died,</i>

728
00:39:32,620 --> 00:39:36,916
<i>I deliberately jettisoned</i>
<i>more than 90% of my material possessions.</i>

729
00:39:36,999 --> 00:39:40,920
<i>Although, if you visited my home today,</i>
<i>you probably wouldn't walk in and say,</i>

730
00:39:41,837 --> 00:39:42,755
<i>"Oh, my God!</i>

731
00:39:44,173 --> 00:39:45,800
<i>This guy's a minimalist!"</i>

732
00:39:46,634 --> 00:39:51,180
<i>No, you'd probably just ask</i>
<i>how we keep things so organized,</i>

733
00:39:51,764 --> 00:39:54,850
<i>and I'd just tell you</i>
<i>that my family and I, we don't own much,</i>

734
00:39:54,934 --> 00:39:58,354
<i>but everything we do own</i>
<i>adds real value to our lives.</i>

735
00:39:58,437 --> 00:40:00,398
<i>Each of our belongings,</i>

736
00:40:00,481 --> 00:40:04,193
<i>our clothes, our car,</i>
<i>our kitchenware, our furniture</i>

737
00:40:04,276 --> 00:40:05,403
<i>has a function.</i>

738
00:40:05,945 --> 00:40:09,073
<i>As a minimalist,</i>
<i>every possession serves a purpose</i>

739
00:40:09,156 --> 00:40:12,410
<i>or it brings me joy,</i>
<i>and everything else is out of the way.</i>

740
00:40:13,119 --> 00:40:14,787
<i>With all that clutter cleared, I…</i>

741
00:40:14,870 --> 00:40:18,082
<i>I finally felt compelled</i>
<i>to start asking deeper questions.</i>

742
00:40:18,707 --> 00:40:22,086
<i>Questions like,</i>
<i>"When did I give so much meaning</i>

743
00:40:22,169 --> 00:40:23,921
<i>to all these material possessions?</i>

744
00:40:24,672 --> 00:40:26,799
<i>What is truly important in my life?</i>

745
00:40:27,716 --> 00:40:29,468
<i>Why have I been so discontented?</i>

746
00:40:30,261 --> 00:40:34,598
<i>Who is the person I want to become,</i>
<i>and how will I define my own success?"</i>

747
00:40:35,182 --> 00:40:39,145
<i>Now, these… these are tough questions</i>
<i>with difficult answers,</i>

748
00:40:39,687 --> 00:40:43,524
<i>but they've proven to be more important</i>
<i>than just trashing my excess stuff.</i>

749
00:40:43,607 --> 00:40:47,945
<i>And if we don't answer these questions</i>
<i>carefully, rigorously…</i>

750
00:40:48,779 --> 00:40:51,615
<i>then those closets</i>
<i>that we just decluttered</i>

751
00:40:51,699 --> 00:40:54,952
<i>will be brimming with new purchases</i>
<i>in the not-too-distant future.</i>

752
00:40:56,579 --> 00:40:57,663
<i>So, as I let go…</i>

753
00:40:58,581 --> 00:41:01,917
<i>and as I started facing</i>
<i>some of life's tougher questions…</i>

754
00:41:03,043 --> 00:41:05,171
<i>my life got simpler.</i>

755
00:41:06,297 --> 00:41:08,591
<i>The people around me</i>
<i>noticed something was different too.</i>

756
00:41:09,592 --> 00:41:12,428
<i>My best friend,</i>
<i>a guy named Ryan Nicodemus,</i>

757
00:41:12,511 --> 00:41:15,222
<i>whom I've known</i>
<i>since we were fat little fifth-graders…</i>

758
00:41:15,931 --> 00:41:18,476
<i>-he came to me one day and said…</i>
<i>-[thunder rumbles]</i>

759
00:41:18,559 --> 00:41:20,478
<i>[Joshua] "Why the hell are you so happy?"</i>

760
00:41:21,812 --> 00:41:23,731
<i>So I told him</i>
<i>about this thing called minimalism.</i>

761
00:41:24,398 --> 00:41:27,610
<i>And he said,</i>
<i>"What the hell is minimalism?"</i>

762
00:41:28,110 --> 00:41:32,740
<i>And so I said, "Minimalism</i>
<i>is the thing that gets us past the things,</i>

763
00:41:32,823 --> 00:41:35,868
<i>so we can make room</i>
<i>for life's most important things,</i>

764
00:41:35,951 --> 00:41:39,580
<i>which actually aren't things at all.</i>

765
00:41:40,498 --> 00:41:41,499
<i>You know what, Ryan?</i>

766
00:41:41,582 --> 00:41:44,835
<i>I think you might benefit</i>
<i>from this minimalism thing too, because…</i>

767
00:41:46,462 --> 00:41:49,006
<i>Well, because you've got a lot of shit."</i>

768
00:41:52,259 --> 00:41:53,594
<i>[engine turns over]</i>

769
00:41:53,677 --> 00:41:55,554
<i>[Ryan] That's when I remember really…</i>

770
00:41:56,222 --> 00:41:59,475
<i>really looking at what you were</i>
<i>doing different with your life.</i>

771
00:41:59,558 --> 00:42:03,020
<i>Like, I had to find out, like,</i>
<i>"Okay, what is Josh doing differently?"</i>

772
00:42:03,103 --> 00:42:06,524
<i>Because my life was so out of control.</i>
<i>I needed to make a change.</i>

773
00:42:06,607 --> 00:42:08,943
<i>You obviously had made some changes,</i>
<i>so that's…</i>

774
00:42:09,026 --> 00:42:12,738
<i>I remember that's when I invited you</i>
<i>for that really fancy lunch at Subway.</i>

775
00:42:12,821 --> 00:42:15,533
<i>-Yeah. [chuckles]</i>
<i>-And, uh, we sat down and…</i>

776
00:42:16,492 --> 00:42:17,701
<i>had… had our sandwiches,</i>

777
00:42:17,785 --> 00:42:21,497
<i>and I just remember asking you,</i>
<i>like, "Why the hell are you so happy?"</i>

778
00:42:21,997 --> 00:42:24,667
<i>And, you know, if it wasn't you</i>

779
00:42:24,750 --> 00:42:27,002
<i>-who told me about minimalism…</i>
<i>-[Joshua] Uh-huh.</i>

780
00:42:27,086 --> 00:42:30,506
<i>[Ryan] If it was anyone else, I don't know</i>
<i>if I would have been so quick</i>

781
00:42:31,006 --> 00:42:33,759
<i>to be willing to try it out.</i>

782
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:36,971
<i>As we were sitting there,</i>
<i>having our lunch,</i>

783
00:42:37,763 --> 00:42:41,267
<i>he talked about how he'd spent</i>
<i>the last several months simplifying.</i>

784
00:42:42,142 --> 00:42:43,310
<i>Clearing the clutter.</i>

785
00:42:43,894 --> 00:42:46,981
<i>Making room</i>
<i>for life's most important things.</i>

786
00:42:47,064 --> 00:42:50,025
<i>So me, being the problem solver that I am,</i>

787
00:42:50,568 --> 00:42:53,404
<i>I decided to become a minimalist</i>
<i>right there on the spot.</i>

788
00:42:53,487 --> 00:42:55,948
<i>I looked up at Josh,</i>
<i>and I excitedly announced,</i>

789
00:42:56,448 --> 00:43:01,203
<i>"All right, man, I'm in. I'll do it!</i>
<i>I'm going to become a minimalist.</i>

790
00:43:03,205 --> 00:43:04,081
<i>Now what?"</i>

791
00:43:04,164 --> 00:43:06,625
<i>You see, I didn't want to spend</i>
<i>several months</i>

792
00:43:06,709 --> 00:43:09,169
<i>slowly paring down, like he had.</i>

793
00:43:09,253 --> 00:43:13,007
<i>I mean, that was great for him,</i>
<i>but I wanted faster results.</i>

794
00:43:13,090 --> 00:43:16,427
<i>So, we came up with a wild idea</i>
<i>called a packing party.</i>

795
00:43:17,261 --> 00:43:20,723
<i>We decided to pack all my belongings</i>
<i>as if I were moving.</i>

796
00:43:20,806 --> 00:43:25,686
<i>Then I would unpack only the items</i>
<i>I needed over the next three weeks.</i>

797
00:43:25,769 --> 00:43:29,773
<i>So Josh came over, and he literally</i>
<i>helped me box up everything.</i>

798
00:43:29,857 --> 00:43:33,777
<i>My clothes, my kitchenware,</i>
<i>my towels, my TVs,</i>

799
00:43:33,861 --> 00:43:37,615
<i>my electronics, my framed photographs</i>
<i>and paintings, my toiletries.</i>

800
00:43:37,698 --> 00:43:41,493
<i>Everything.</i>
<i>We literally pretended like I was moving.</i>

801
00:43:41,577 --> 00:43:45,122
<i>So after nine hours</i>
<i>and a couple of pizza deliveries,</i>

802
00:43:45,205 --> 00:43:48,792
<i>there Josh and I were,</i>
<i>sitting in my second living room,</i>

803
00:43:48,876 --> 00:43:52,880
<i>staring at these boxes</i>
<i>stacked halfway to my 12 ft. ceiling.</i>

804
00:43:52,963 --> 00:43:54,506
<i>Everything I owned,</i>

805
00:43:55,007 --> 00:43:58,844
<i>everything I had worked so hard for</i>
<i>over the last decade,</i>

806
00:43:58,927 --> 00:44:00,971
<i>it was all sitting there in that room.</i>

807
00:44:01,055 --> 00:44:05,476
<i>Just boxes stacked on top of boxes</i>
<i>stacked on top of boxes.</i>

808
00:44:06,060 --> 00:44:08,437
<i>Now each box was labeled really well</i>

809
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:11,023
<i>so I'd know where to go</i>
<i>when I needed a particular item.</i>

810
00:44:11,106 --> 00:44:13,192
<i>Labels like "junk drawer,"</i>

811
00:44:13,275 --> 00:44:14,985
<i>"living room number one,"</i>

812
00:44:15,069 --> 00:44:16,278
<i>"kitchen utensils,"</i>

813
00:44:16,362 --> 00:44:17,946
<i>"junk drawer number seven."</i>

814
00:44:18,030 --> 00:44:22,910
<i>I spent the next 21 days</i>
<i>unpacking only the items I needed.</i>

815
00:44:22,993 --> 00:44:25,412
<i>My toothbrush, my bed and bed sheets,</i>

816
00:44:25,496 --> 00:44:27,039
<i>some clothes for work,</i>

817
00:44:27,122 --> 00:44:29,124
<i>the furniture I actually used,</i>

818
00:44:29,208 --> 00:44:30,376
<i>a tool set,</i>

819
00:44:30,459 --> 00:44:31,502
<i>some kitchenware.</i>

820
00:44:31,585 --> 00:44:35,297
<i>Just the things</i>
<i>that added value to my life.</i>

821
00:44:35,381 --> 00:44:37,007
<i>After three weeks…</i>

822
00:44:38,133 --> 00:44:40,052
{\an8}<i>I had 80% of my stuff</i>

823
00:44:40,135 --> 00:44:43,055
{\an8}<i>still sitting in those boxes.</i>

824
00:44:43,138 --> 00:44:46,308
<i>Just sitting there, un-accessed.</i>

825
00:44:47,017 --> 00:44:48,727
<i>You know, I looked at those boxes…</i>

826
00:44:49,228 --> 00:44:51,438
<i>I couldn't even remember</i>
<i>what was in most of 'em.</i>

827
00:44:52,314 --> 00:44:55,859
<i>All those things I brought into my life</i>
<i>to make me happy…</i>

828
00:44:57,027 --> 00:44:58,612
<i>they weren't doing their job.</i>

829
00:44:58,696 --> 00:45:01,699
<i>So that's when I decided to let go.</i>
<i>And you know what?</i>

830
00:45:02,741 --> 00:45:06,203
<i>I started to feel free</i>
<i>for the first time in my life.</i>

831
00:45:06,787 --> 00:45:08,288
<i>I got my time back.</i>

832
00:45:09,415 --> 00:45:10,749
<i>I got my life back.</i>

833
00:45:11,667 --> 00:45:14,086
<i>And as I changed my life,</i>

834
00:45:14,169 --> 00:45:17,256
<i>I was focused on community,</i>
<i>not consumerism.</i>

835
00:45:18,048 --> 00:45:20,008
<i>Giving, not taking.</i>

836
00:45:21,051 --> 00:45:22,928
<i>People, not stuff.</i>

837
00:45:23,637 --> 00:45:27,975
{\an8}<i>It just made us really,</i>
<i>you know, reassess our lives,</i>

838
00:45:28,058 --> 00:45:30,352
{\an8}<i>reassess our goals and our commitments.</i>

839
00:45:30,436 --> 00:45:36,442
{\an8}<i>Friends, and family, and colleagues</i>
<i>have acknowledged a profound change in me.</i>

840
00:45:36,525 --> 00:45:38,318
{\an8}<i>It's given me the opportunity</i>

841
00:45:38,402 --> 00:45:42,197
{\an8}<i>to be that person</i>
<i>that I used to just talk about being.</i>

842
00:45:42,281 --> 00:45:46,326
{\an8}<i>Because of the way that my values</i>
<i>have really been reorganized,</i>

843
00:45:46,869 --> 00:45:50,122
{\an8}<i>I am grateful for every single second.</i>

844
00:45:50,706 --> 00:45:53,917
{\an8}<i>Really, I began to find myself again.</i>

845
00:45:54,668 --> 00:45:58,213
{\an8}<i>And for that, I am so thankful.</i>

846
00:45:58,297 --> 00:45:59,423
<i>Minimalism…</i>

847
00:46:01,008 --> 00:46:02,384
<i>it changed my life.</i>

848
00:46:02,468 --> 00:46:05,888
{\an8}<i>This emotion washed over me.</i>
<i>You know, it was really overwhelming.</i>

849
00:46:05,971 --> 00:46:11,477
{\an8}<i>And it was this feeling</i>
<i>of great abundance, you know.</i>

850
00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:15,147
<i>Like an abundance</i>
<i>where everything is fine.</i>

851
00:46:15,230 --> 00:46:18,066
<i>You have everything that you need,</i>
<i>all is well.</i>

852
00:46:18,150 --> 00:46:19,359
<i>And I don't think I'd…</i>

853
00:46:20,486 --> 00:46:22,780
<i>I get emotional</i>
<i>thinking back to it, right.</i>

854
00:46:22,863 --> 00:46:24,156
<i>[sniffles] Um…</i>

855
00:46:24,740 --> 00:46:28,869
<i>I don't think I had that feeling since</i>
<i>I was maybe four or five years old, so…</i>

856
00:46:30,287 --> 00:46:34,082
<i>This just deep knowing,</i>
<i>you know, that all I wanted,</i>

857
00:46:34,166 --> 00:46:36,543
<i>you know, all I was searching for,</i>
<i>all I needed…</i>

858
00:46:37,419 --> 00:46:38,462
<i>I already had it.</i>

859
00:46:40,798 --> 00:46:43,342
<i>[Ryan] A little over a year</i>
<i>after my packing party experiment,</i>

860
00:46:43,425 --> 00:46:45,636
<i>something unexpected happened.</i>

861
00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:47,596
<i>My boss called me on a Friday morning</i>

862
00:46:47,679 --> 00:46:50,432
<i>and told me to drive down</i>
<i>to Cincinnati that afternoon</i>

863
00:46:50,516 --> 00:46:53,227
<i>to meet him</i>
<i>at the company's Human Resources office.</i>

864
00:46:53,310 --> 00:46:56,104
<i>I walked into the conference room</i>
<i>and saw my boss</i>

865
00:46:56,188 --> 00:46:59,650
<i>and someone from HR sitting</i>
<i>on the other side of the conference table.</i>

866
00:46:59,733 --> 00:47:01,568
<i>My boss shook his head.</i>

867
00:47:02,069 --> 00:47:03,654
<i>"We've eliminated your position</i>

868
00:47:03,737 --> 00:47:05,948
<i>with the latest round of cuts,"</i>
<i>my boss said.</i>

869
00:47:06,031 --> 00:47:08,492
<i>"This change, it's effective immediately."</i>

870
00:47:08,575 --> 00:47:11,912
<i>After seven promotions</i>
<i>in less than a decade,</i>

871
00:47:11,995 --> 00:47:13,956
<i>I was laid off with no notice.</i>

872
00:47:14,039 --> 00:47:16,500
<i>And then I was surprised</i>
<i>by my next thought.</i>

873
00:47:17,167 --> 00:47:19,920
<i>"Isn't this the best thing</i>
<i>that could have happened?"</i>

874
00:47:20,003 --> 00:47:22,756
<i>It was like a huge weight</i>
<i>had been lifted off my shoulders.</i>

875
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:25,300
<i>I knew it was time for me to move on,</i>

876
00:47:25,384 --> 00:47:27,344
<i>and this was the nudge I needed.</i>

877
00:47:27,427 --> 00:47:29,346
<i>My entire perspective had changed.</i>

878
00:47:29,847 --> 00:47:33,183
<i>And then I thought to myself,</i>
<i>"There might be some people out there</i>

879
00:47:33,267 --> 00:47:35,310
<i>who would find value in my story.</i>

880
00:47:35,894 --> 00:47:38,438
<i>Who would find value in our story."</i>

881
00:47:39,273 --> 00:47:43,902
<i>So Josh and I, we decided to do</i>
<i>what any two 30-year-old dudes would do.</i>

882
00:47:44,862 --> 00:47:46,113
<i>We started a blog.</i>

883
00:47:47,281 --> 00:47:48,615
<i>That was a decade ago.</i>

884
00:47:48,699 --> 00:47:51,159
<i>And you know what?</i>
<i>Something amazing happened.</i>

885
00:47:51,243 --> 00:47:55,038
<i>Fifty-two people visited our website</i>
<i>in the first month.</i>

886
00:47:55,122 --> 00:47:57,916
<i>I realize</i>
<i>that might sound unremarkable at first,</i>

887
00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:00,460
<i>but Josh and I, we were excited.</i>

888
00:48:00,544 --> 00:48:03,130
<i>And then other remarkable things</i>
<i>started happening.</i>

889
00:48:03,213 --> 00:48:07,634
<i>Fifty-two readers turned into 500,</i>
<i>500 turned into 5,000</i>

890
00:48:07,718 --> 00:48:09,595
<i>and now we have the privilege</i>

891
00:48:09,678 --> 00:48:13,181
<i>of sharing our message</i>
<i>with millions of people every year.</i>

892
00:48:13,265 --> 00:48:15,767
<i>It turns out,</i>
<i>when you add value to people's lives,</i>

893
00:48:15,851 --> 00:48:19,563
<i>they're pretty eager to share your story</i>
<i>with their friends and family</i>

894
00:48:19,646 --> 00:48:21,690
<i>to add value to their lives.</i>

895
00:48:22,524 --> 00:48:24,526
<i>It's fitting that we're back here.</i>

896
00:48:24,610 --> 00:48:28,614
<i>Not just in Dayton,</i>
<i>but here at Press, at this coffee shop,</i>

897
00:48:28,697 --> 00:48:31,074
<i>because this is</i>
<i>where it literally started for us.</i>

898
00:48:31,158 --> 00:48:33,285
<i>Even back</i>
<i>when we were in the corporate world,</i>

899
00:48:33,368 --> 00:48:36,455
<i>you and I would meet here,</i>
<i>and this was our place for creation.</i>

900
00:48:36,538 --> 00:48:41,877
<i>It was almost like we required this extra</i>
<i>space outside of the corporate world,</i>

901
00:48:41,960 --> 00:48:44,254
<i>outside of our cluttered personal lives,</i>

902
00:48:44,338 --> 00:48:49,384
<i>to come here, to figure out how to create,</i>
<i>how to simplify our lives.</i>

903
00:48:49,468 --> 00:48:52,429
<i>To take this sort of feeling</i>
<i>that we were experiencing</i>

904
00:48:52,512 --> 00:48:54,389
<i>and get it down onto the page.</i>

905
00:48:55,057 --> 00:48:58,769
<i>[Erwin] I think we should all be allowed</i>
<i>to Etch A Sketch our life and say,</i>

906
00:48:58,852 --> 00:49:01,313
<i>"I thought this is the life I wanted,</i>
<i>but it's not,</i>

907
00:49:01,396 --> 00:49:03,148
<i>and so I'm gonna start over again."</i>

908
00:49:03,231 --> 00:49:06,485
<i>If you have a longing, and a dream,</i>
<i>and a passion inside of you,</i>

909
00:49:07,277 --> 00:49:10,781
<i>why hold on to what you used to do</i>
<i>and who you used to be</i>

910
00:49:11,406 --> 00:49:14,701
<i>and… and lose who you want to become?</i>

911
00:49:14,785 --> 00:49:17,621
<i>No matter where we're at</i>
<i>on our journey towards less,</i>

912
00:49:17,704 --> 00:49:20,457
<i>we are always going to be pulled</i>
<i>in that direction.</i>

913
00:49:20,540 --> 00:49:24,836
<i>The direction of comparison, the direction</i>
<i>of being overwhelmed by the media.</i>

914
00:49:25,420 --> 00:49:28,674
<i>And the truth is</i>
<i>we have to constantly refocus ourselves.</i>

915
00:49:28,757 --> 00:49:31,385
<i>We make life unnecessarily complicated</i>

916
00:49:31,468 --> 00:49:35,514
<i>because we overlook or underestimate</i>

917
00:49:35,597 --> 00:49:38,433
<i>the… the sense of direction that can come</i>

918
00:49:38,517 --> 00:49:42,270
<i>from just taking a little time</i>
<i>to sit alone with ourselves,</i>

919
00:49:42,354 --> 00:49:43,897
<i>to sit in the quiet and say,</i>

920
00:49:43,981 --> 00:49:46,858
<i>"I'm not gonna get my ideas</i>
<i>about what a good life is</i>

921
00:49:46,942 --> 00:49:49,611
<i>from external sources of stimulation.</i>

922
00:49:49,695 --> 00:49:53,281
<i>I'm gonna listen to that inner voice</i>
<i>and see where that's guiding me."</i>

923
00:49:53,365 --> 00:49:57,411
<i>[Erwin] If people could just</i>
<i>make a decision to be fully alive,</i>

924
00:49:57,494 --> 00:50:01,707
<i>if they could just get rid of everything</i>
<i>that's sucking the life out of their soul,</i>

925
00:50:01,790 --> 00:50:04,126
<i>that's when you're gonna find</i>
<i>your passion.</i>

926
00:50:04,209 --> 00:50:07,504
<i>But your passion</i>
<i>will never be about yourself.</i>

927
00:50:08,005 --> 00:50:12,009
<i>Your passion will always be</i>
<i>about some good you can do in the world.</i>

928
00:50:13,260 --> 00:50:16,471
<i>That's why Josh and I</i>
<i>are right here right now.</i>

929
00:50:16,555 --> 00:50:18,974
<i>We really hope</i>
<i>we can add value to your life</i>

930
00:50:19,057 --> 00:50:20,684
<i>by encouraging you to let go.</i>

931
00:50:21,184 --> 00:50:23,020
<i>To imagine a life with more.</i>

932
00:50:23,562 --> 00:50:26,565
<i>More time, more meaningful relationships,</i>

933
00:50:26,648 --> 00:50:29,735
<i>more growth,</i>
<i>and contribution, and contentment.</i>

934
00:50:29,818 --> 00:50:31,653
<i>A life of passion,</i>

935
00:50:31,737 --> 00:50:35,282
<i>unencumbered by the trappings</i>
<i>of the chaotic world around you.</i>

936
00:50:36,575 --> 00:50:39,911
<i>What you're imagining</i>
<i>is an intentional life.</i>

937
00:50:41,079 --> 00:50:42,330
<i>Not a perfect life.</i>

938
00:50:42,914 --> 00:50:44,124
<i>Not even an easy life.</i>

939
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:46,001
<i>But a simple one.</i>

940
00:50:46,918 --> 00:50:51,798
<i>And to get there, you might have to let go</i>
<i>of some stuff that's in the way.</i>

941
00:50:53,175 --> 00:50:57,137
<i>♪ Clearing space</i>
<i>I found a moment taking shape ♪</i>

942
00:50:58,472 --> 00:51:02,601
<i>♪ Collect the memories</i>
<i>We put them into frames ♪</i>

943
00:51:03,852 --> 00:51:07,022
<i>♪ The beauty of our day-to-day ♪</i>

944
00:51:08,023 --> 00:51:13,445
<i>♪ Hung on walls inside this home we built</i>
<i>The life that we had made ♪</i>

945
00:51:18,158 --> 00:51:22,245
<i>♪ You kept my childhood</i>
<i>In a box beneath your bed ♪</i>

946
00:51:23,497 --> 00:51:27,584
<i>♪ My teenage years</i>
<i>Upon some shelves inside the shed ♪</i>

947
00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:31,922
<i>♪ My crayon portraits on your fridge ♪</i>

948
00:51:33,090 --> 00:51:35,467
<i>♪ You saved every souvenir ♪</i>

949
00:51:35,550 --> 00:51:38,220
<i>♪ 'Cause you were scared</i>
<i>You would forget ♪</i>

950
00:51:41,348 --> 00:51:43,934
<i>♪ You kept all of my stuff ♪</i>

951
00:51:46,228 --> 00:51:49,439
<i>♪ As if your love wasn't enough ♪</i>

952
00:51:52,984 --> 00:51:58,490
<i>♪ But I always knew your love for me</i>
<i>Was something glorious ♪</i>

953
00:52:02,327 --> 00:52:03,954
<i>♪ Glorious ♪</i>

954
00:52:08,625 --> 00:52:12,712
<i>♪ Want to make my life</i>
<i>A monument to you and me ♪</i>

955
00:52:14,172 --> 00:52:18,051
<i>♪ The everlasting us</i>
<i>The unrelenting we ♪</i>

956
00:52:19,511 --> 00:52:22,556
<i>♪ And when my body turns to dust ♪</i>

957
00:52:24,057 --> 00:52:29,187
<i>♪ Remember that my love for you</i>
<i>Was something glorious ♪</i>

958
00:52:33,024 --> 00:52:34,568
<i>♪ Glorious ♪</i>

959
00:52:38,321 --> 00:52:40,198
<i>♪ Glorious ♪</i>