Day 9: Find Your Most Prized Possession—and Get Rid of It
This challenge stumped me for most of the day. What are my prized possessions? How do I assign them value?
The first thing that came to my mind was my AirPods! How could I live without the ability to stroll to work listening to a podcast or a pump up jam? How could I bother to hold an entire phone up to my ear to make a call? Just two years ago I mocked the techies around town who kept double tapping the white worm dangling from their ear while I proudly clicked the controller hanging from the white snake that twisted down and around my whole body, tethering itself to the device in my pocket.
Twenty years ago, I also think that my Sony Discman headphones would have topped my list of most prized possessions đŸ˜† Five years ago I couldn’t step up a plane without my massive Bose noise canceling headphones. Today, I can’t imagine lugging those things anywhere – no matter how much better the sound was! I have always treasured my headphones and for their ability to help me escape into any desired world at any given moment.
OK, sure, it’s not the headphones per se that are transporting me out of my surroundings and into the front row at Hamilton or the sidelines of the big game, but my headphones do feel like a telescope – an extension and way to connect with the supernatural beyond.
Given my clear obsession (and if I had to guess yours, too) with my headphones, it only seems fair that I “try to live without [my] prized possession for a good chunk of time. Try not to use it for a week. The idea is to truly deprive yourself of this thing that you care so much about. That’s the only way you’ll be able to break its hold over you” (Daily Stoic, NYNUY #9 Email).
The thought of waking up tomorrow morning and walking twenty minutes to work makes me sigh in disgust. The thought of calling my fiance while grabbing a coffee and trying to hold two things in my hand at once sounds equally preposterous. Daily Stoic, you are so cruel! I will give you a day; I cannot promise a week.
And yet, it feels much easier to give up a prized possession that offers utility and comfort over sentiment and meaning. In my closest I have two large clear boxes filled with cards from the last decade. Every once in a while, I pull them out and shuffle through the cards, reflecting on my relationships and special moments over the years. This exercise brings me peace and comfort. Every once in a while I’ll find a treasure – a card from a friend where our paths crossed for a short period of time, but the relationship had depth that warranted a physical card. Most of the time, I’ll find the steady and consistent love of my family; my mom’s perfect cursive commemorating everything Birthday, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day. These make my heart swell. These boxes contain my truest treasures. However, if they disappeared tomorrow, though I would be sad, I would not feel distraught. The cards symbolize love and connection – past and present – and that feeling cannot be destroyed.