The more you own, the heavier the anchor

Growing up I'd been a bit of a hoarder, accumulating things and then finding it hugely difficult to throw anything away. A characteristc I inherited from my father, who had also dedicated a huge amount of his time, effort and emotional energy to the the objective of acquiring property and then filling it with 'stuff'.

The obsession of owning your own home was something I felt from an early age, it was clear that this was a key social indicator of progress. The dream of home ownership at all costs remains an alluring one to this day. The ritual of borrowing huge amounts of money to 'own' a home then paying it off for the majority of your life with the objective of one day being mortgage free has been expertly packaged and sold to generation after generation.

Acquiring material posessions has of course been part of our DNA for a long time, it is enjoyable, satisfying and a way for us to create tangible evidence of our success. It is also a way to reward ourselves. We also need material things to operate our day to day lives. What is new in all of this is that our need and want for things, combined with our lack of patience to wait, and belief that we shouldn't have to wait, for these things has led to the growth of the buy now pay later mindset. Increasingly we're encouraged to live ourside of our means and my inherent worry is that more and more of us are going to get dragged into debt that we just can't afford to pay back money we've borrowed for things we probably didn't really need, or could have waited for.

When we moved to Mumbai to set-up Outsized, it was an opportunity to re-set, and we've gone for it! Clearing out our house and getting rid of 30 years of possessions (of various people who'd live in the family home over the years) was a carthartic experience. With each item we gave away or disgarded I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. This culminated in us selling our home in December last year. Many asked if I felt sad or concerned that we longer owned our home, for me it was the opposite, I felt free, I felt relieved. For me my home is where my family are, not a physical location.

I'm now addicted to owning as little as possible. To the annoyance of my wife I now question every purchasing decision which is going to end in us owning a 'thing', do we really need this? Can we rent it?

My belief is that the world is increasingly uncertain and unpredictable and to navigate this being agile and fleet of foot is going to be important. The more we own, the more we need to think before we act. The slower we can move, pivot or adapt to the fast changing environments we now live in. I also feel that opportunities sometimes become harder to take up if we have weighed ourselves down too heavily, posessions become like roots that ground us deeply and make change that little bit more painful. They become like an anchor slowing us down, grounding us.

I also noticed that the things I owned became sources of worry, they increasingly felt like liabilities rather than assets. Things that I had to protect and maintain. Things I could lose. Now we own very little, we also have very little to lose. The focus has now shifted more towards people, places and experiences, that's where we now allocate our spending. Less tangible but from which I find I get more joy.

This isn't saying that owning things is wrong, or buying a home is wrong, it's just something that has become less appealing or motivating for me as an individual. I'm not sure whether I'll feel like this forever or how far I can take it, but I'm certainly enjoying the journey towards zero ownership. It has made me feel happier.