Getting rid of wish lists

I’ve been practicing minimalism for years. Slowly getting rid of things that I don’t need. But I realized only yesterday that I’m hoarding clutter in my own head. Getting stressed for no reason. So I’ve decided to get rid of that stuff.

Yesterday I was talking to my friend Magnus about how he managed his reading list. You know, that list of books and articles you keep in three different places that always seems to grow? Those amazon wish lists that never seems to have a thing you want to read right now?

Well Magnus didn’t have one, and that got me thinking.

I’ve been bookmarking all these books, articles, movies and TV-shows all over the place. But how much time am I actually spending enjoying things from these lists? To be honest, most of the time I stress about them and maybe once in a while I prune. So what is the point of keeping a list of musts when they were supposed to be entertaining?

This is the essence of minimalism. Your stuff ends up owning you. When you spend more time on upkeep of your stuff than on enjoying them. It becomes a ridiculous waste of lifetime.

So I’m getting rid of my lists. I will no longer store articles, I’ll read them or disregard them. I’ll no longer add books to lists. Either I want to read it now, or I’ll come back when I feel like it. I’m not about to stop consuming media. Instead I’m going to consume what I want, instead of what I should want.

The goal is to get down to one or two things I’m reading. One thing I want to see next. The rest can wait.

There’s never enough time as it is. Why the hell keep holding on to distraction?