The 100 Thing Challenge Quotes

“We're so distracted, we're missing out own lives. The parent who records his kid's dance recital or first steps or graduation is so busy trying to capture the moment--to create a thing that proves that they were there--they miss out on actually living and enjoying the moment.
I've done this before with my camera. I have jockeyed for position, bumping elbows with other parents so I could get into the best spot to look through the viewfinder of my SLR to capture the moment of my daughter's dance recital. Five-year-old Phoebe was so cute in her little sailor outfit, tapping away. And I got some great pictures. It's just that while I remember getting the pictures, I do not recall the moment. So much of the time we don't trust ourselves to experience our world without stuff. Things so often don't enhance our lives, but are barriers to fully living our lives.”
― Dave Bruno, The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul

“My desire to live a meaningful life was getting forestalled by the petty, day-to-day demands of all my stuff.
As I stood in my garage, I realized that it was not just that all the stuff created a mess, requiring valuable time to clean up. That was true, but that wasn't the worst of it. I realized it was not the clutter, the over accumulation of things, but rather the things themselves that were taking my attention away from what mattered in my life. Camping gear was getting my attention, not being outside. Tools were taking up my time, not using them to be creative. Toys were distracting me from the fun of playing. My things were not doing what they were meant to do: serve a greater purpose than possession alone.”
― Dave Bruno, The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul

“I have come to believe that contentment is a virtue we can aspire to rather than a state we can achieve.”
― Dave Bruno, The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul

“Money is important, but for most people (and certainly for the best people), money isn’t the primary motive for their work.”
― Dave Bruno, The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul

“The truth is that our material possessions, rather than helping us understand our limits and our place in the world, regularly distort out perspective. Put a Coach purse or the key to a BMW M series or the latest Nokia gadget in our hands and it's not uncommon for humility, respect for other people, and appreciation of our environment to drain from out brains.”
― Dave Bruno, The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul

“Do you know how wind and water are unstoppable? The smallest cracks give wind and water all they need to creep through and make it chilly and wet. Well, I am also kind of drafty and leaky. I cannot stop up my fissures with purchases at the mall. Neither can I hold back the wind and the water with my expectations of living a spartan life.”
― Dave Bruno, The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul

“We cannot buy what we need for an ideal life in stores, so we have become habitual shoppers who come up short again and again and therefore have to head back for more.”
― Dave Bruno, The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul

“In my view, dissatisfaction is implicit in the fabric of consumerism.”
― Dave Bruno, The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul

“I was free to appreciate these former interests of mine rather than worry about not participating in them. The 100 Thing Challenge proved a handy way to get rid of stuff that was never going to fix my past or make me someone that I was not.”
― Dave Bruno, The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul