Experiences Vs. Stuff – Hot Air Balloon Ride and Tidying AGAIN!
This week’s quilting podcast is taking on the fun topic – which is better Experiences or our STUFF? I have a lot of stuff and I’m tidying up my craft room yet AGAIN as I share the story of an amazing experience riding a hot air balloon. Enjoy watching this podcast here:
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Experiences are Awesome
I was definitely riding on a euphoric wave during this podcast! The morning I filmed this we woke up at 5:30, drove an hour and then took our first hot air balloon ride. It was amazing!
To set this up, I contacted a local balloonist in my area, Marsha Treacy. Turns out, there are a lot of hot air balloon enthusiasts and pilots in the Charlotte, NC area because there is a balloon manufacturer in nearby Statesville. 
It’s hard to describe a hot air balloon ride. It wasn’t like flying in a plane in any way. We gently lifted off the ground, going around 4 miles per hour. The wind steers the balloon, but Marsha controlled the altitude perfectly. It was like standing at the top of a mountain peak, with no fear of heights, and gently moving over the landscape.
The experience was unbelievably relaxing. All the times I’ve flown on a plane have been chaotic and stressful, but this balloon ride was the complete opposite.
Experiences Vs. Stuff
What’s funny about this story is how close it came to not happening. About 20 minutes after we left home, our security system called to alert us that the motion sensors had detected movement downstairs. I was driving and made the call easily – I’m not turning around.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my home and I really love the things I’ve made. I am a STUFF person. I think there’s at least a dozen episodes of the Hello My Quilting Friends podcast where I’m cleaning out stuff, organizing stuff, rearranging stuff.
So much so that sometimes I wonder if I own my stuff or if it owns me?
Well, this situation definitely settled this question! I’d much rather go have an amazing experience with my family than worry about my stuff being stolen.
And don’t worry! It was an awful stink bug setting off the motion sensor. No one was in our home.
Using Stuff to Relive Experiences
Experiences like this are fleeting. In an hour the trip was over and we helped pack up the balloon and were driven back to our car. I wish I could bottle the feeling of being in that hot air balloon basket, but I can’t. All I can do is enjoy the memory of the flight and the magical day Josh, James, and I had together.
This is where I think our stuff can assist us in reliving a good experience over and over. I’m planning to make hot air balloon ornaments for Christmas. Each time I see these ornaments, I’ll recall this special day and awesome experience.
I think this is the best way to use our stuff and to create with purpose. What better inspiration to make quilts and decorations for our homes than to capture the memories of our very best days?
Letting Go of Stuff that Doesn’t Fit
With this goal in mind, I was finally able to clear out tons of craft supplies that I’ve had for years and never once used. I finally accepted that I wouldn’t use a lot of crafty supplies because they just don’t fit my personality, what I want to create, or how I work best.
It’s easy to hang onto things just because we bought it and spent money on it and need to do something with it.
But I agree with Marie Kondo that a tool or a supply must bring joy. It must have a purpose and not be tied to guilt for buying it because that guilt will carry into the things you make as well.
So I managed to clean out half of my cabinet. I still need to tackle my bead collection which is vast and ridiculous and my yarn collection as well. It’s a slow process in this room because it’s so easy to get overwhelmed by the limited space and overwhelming amount of stuff I’ve collected and packed away.
But I do hope that like my clothes closet, I will soon be at a point where everything in this room brings joy and doesn’t become a chaotic junky mess. That is my goal at least!
I hope you enjoyed this podcast! Click Here to find more Hello My Quilting Friends Podcast episodes.
Let’s go quilt
Leah Day
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- #117 – Make Your Dream Achievements Come True
- #116 – How Much Time Will This Quilt Take?
- #115 – Ten Steps to Finishing Your UFOs
- #114 – Priority is Singular!
- #113 – Celebrating Ten Years in Business!
- #112 – Back from July Vacation
- #111 – Unpacking from Quilt Fantastic
- #110 – The Game of Perfection
- #109 – A Short Story from Quilst
- #108 – Organize and Decorate Your Sewing Space with Stephanie Socha
I haven’t flown in a hot air balloon – it sounds like a very serene experience. I always enjoy a good clean-out too; yes, it can be difficult to part with items we have paid good money for, or that we had such big plans for using, but we just have to be realistic and pass it on to a good home if we know we just aren’t going to make use of it. And it makes more room for the stuff we DO love (in my case, quilt fabrics)!
Thank you for sharing Jen! You should definitely look into riding on a hot air balloon! It was amazing!