Dee Williams takes a life changing moment and makes it a new part of her life in her memoir The Big Tiny. While the book is ostensibly about Williams and her building of a tiny house, so many other parts of the book resonated with me and I have little or no desire to live in a tiny house.

As Williams realized she was going to have to get rid of items in her life to move into her new little house, she wrote about decluttering. I have a struggle with getting rid of memories. Not all are easily kept in a digital format. Do I need to keep my daughter’s prom dress? Should I give it to a school so someone else can feel like a princess? What do I do with the many pieces of art my kids made growing up? Little is functional but it all contains memories. How do we deal with the emotional struggle in giving up parts of our life?

Truthfully, getting rid of things that are not necessary in life is something we can all benefit from but it is not something easily done. Let’s take some of the emotional entanglements out of the equation. I have books. I have book shelves. The books overrunneth the shelves. I have a hard time parting with books. I know most are one time reads but I still want to hold on to the books. Unfortunately, I need more space if I am going to be able to keep all the books I want. Then, comes the time you need that book you were going to part with but didn’t, just in case. This makes me think I should keep them all. It is almost as hard as parting with things that have a more emotional attachment.

Give Dee Williams’ The Big Tiny a read. I found the concepts of living smaller and appreciating life to be a perfect read.