100 things

I was reading at the gym this morning about this new movement to reduce our dependence on "things." It's called the "100 Thing Challenge." The premise behind it is that participants willingly widdle their belongings down to 100 things. Literally. You allowed to own 100 things. I appreciate the premise behind it. We are far too dependent upon physical things to make us happy. We have all kinds of belongings -- pictures, clothing, shoes (although it kills me to write that!), old memorabilia, meaningless junk ... -- that clutter our homes and make it hard to move on. They bind us to the past. Which can be bad but can also be good. I mean, there are a lot of things that I am proud of from my past. But, do I really need pictures and miniature monuments to remind me of those moments? Don't my memories serve me well enough?

While I feel this way, it also seems unrealistic to reduce my belongings to 100 items. While the rules aren't steadfast, does that include clothes? Shoes? Bailey? My fish? CDs and DVDs? Furniture? Jewelry? Photos? Books? I mean, hell, I own 70 pairs of shoes. I'm sure I have more than 100 articles of clothing? I don't even want to count the books that I own? How can a person literally own just 100 things? Does that count food in the cabinets? Pots and pans? Silverware and dishes? I just don't think that this is physically doable.

But it makes me wonder ... what would I keep and what would I part with?