150 items

Week 21

The no smiling/laughing challenge was incredibly difficult. I didn't realise how much I smile and laugh. People were right that this was definitely the challenge for me. The most difficult part was meeting people in the street who didn't know I was doing the challenge and instantly finding myself not being rude and smiling; I think I might have to let myself off on those occasions as it would have been unkind not to smile. Also, I was teaching a group about sexually transmitted infections in the morning and the students managed to make me laugh a few times :) Anyway, overall I only smiled 8 times which I think is an achievement and with this I raised some money for the Samaritans which is a great thing! I also noticed how not smiling and laughing had a noticeable affect on my mood - mad really!

I am moving house in a few weeks and I spent the weekend sorting out my belongings. When I started the second part of the year of kindness I gave away my whole DVD collection in a bid to try not to be too materialistic. I have also been reading lately about a minimalistic lifestyle and I read about someone who took the challenge of getting their belongings down to 100 items. This is incredibly admirable! Another incredibly inspiring set of people being minimalist are the minimalists and their website is really brilliant and insightful. I think at this stage getting my belongings down to 100 items might be too much of a challenge for me so I am going to try and get my belongings down to 150 items and give the rest away. I have already started to put a lot of things on Freecycle and I also have a large pile of clothes/ nik naks ready for the charity shop. Let's see how I get on this week......