The Curve of Stuff
✍ by Justine Anweiler, The Curve of Stuff, 2025
The Curve of Stuff: As we age, we acquire – until we have to let go
I’ve written previous pieces about downsizing, hoarcruxes (belongings holding your energy), and the freedom of owning very little. As someone whose life fits into two suitcases (thank you, 2020!) – with a one-in, one-out policy – I know how difficult it is to release prized possessions, and yet how generous it feels to part with them.
So last year, when I was helping one of my mom’s clients downsize, I found myself mentoring my elders. They went from a spacious apartment to a senior’s residence, and much of our work together felt very Marie Kondo.
Supporting them to sell their most sentimental belongings to energetic matches (kind, open-hearted, joyous recipients) revealed how cyclical life is. We spend the first half of life acquiring and the second half letting go. It prompted me to visualize this story arc of stuff: crescendo, climax and decrescendo – that many of us go through over a lifetime.
Fast forward to Chapter 2 of Disrupt-Her (see previous posts to learn more about this book), where Miki Agrawal drops these gems:
💎 “That’s what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get . . . more stuff! Sometimes you gotta move, gotta get a bigger house. Why? No room for your stuff anymore.” [from George Carlin’s standup about stuff]
💠 “My stuff is not my legacy. I spent my lifetime paying for stuff, cleaning stuff, storing stuff, and I was even conditioned to think that my kids would want my stuff – and now they don’t want any of it. So what’s the point of having it all?”
💎 “I then gave the books to the library so they could be alive. I believe that if stuff can give life, it has life.”
💠 “Once you declutter your house, do this with people in your life too. […] The same goes for work.”
💎 “To be free is to have the space to go after what you want and not have ‘stuff’ run your life.” “Stuff has taken over a big part of our lives and consumes so much of our energy.”
💠 “To be free is to have the space to go after what you want and not have ‘stuff’ run your life.”
💎 “The less stuff we have holding us back, the more time we have to express ourselves fully and authentically.”
As you move through this holiday season, keep the Curve of Stuff in mind when you’re spending, gifting, and bringing new things into your home.
Thank you to Cynthia Scott Ph.D. M.P.H., who spent time with me yesterday doing her Core Gift Institute interview, where our conversation reminded me to share this.