Small Choices, Big Results: How Bruce & Lee Schutter Live the One Bag Life of a Mental Health Warrior

I wasn’t having a big, dramatic life realization. I was standing in my kitchen. Barefoot. Half awake. Diet soda doing its job… slowly.

I opened the cabinet where we keep our dishes and bowls and just stared.

Not because it was messy. Because it wasn’t.

There were only a few plates. A few bowls. All the right ones. No leaning towers. No “careful, that one will fall if you breathe wrong.” No emotional-support cereal bowls from 2009.

Just… what we actually use.

And my brain did that quiet little click it does when something important sneaks up on me.

When did this happen?

Somewhere along the way, Lee and I had cleared out the extras. Not with a dramatic purge. No trash bags lined up like a reality show finale. Just small decisions made over time. And standing there that morning, it hit me: our dishes weren’t managing us anymore, we were living life’s experiences.

No dishwasher marathon. No storage gymnastics. No spending mental energy on things that didn’t actually matter. That cabinet wasn’t just clean. It was calm.

And that calm? It spread.

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The Warrior Solution

The Mental Health Warrior Program wasn’t born in a peaceful season of my life. It came out of a 20-year battle with Bipolar Disorder, Alcoholism, Anxiety Disorders and PTSD. This left me feeling so powerless that I tried to end my life. But in the dark time, I discovered something life-changing: mental health is the key to overcoming any challenge.

Armed with that knowledge, I created the Mental Health Warrior Program – bold new SELF-HELP approach that puts YOU in charge!

And an important lesson I learned the hard way is this: when your mind is struggling, more stuff doesn’t help. It adds friction. Decisions. Guilt. Maintenance.

That’s where One Bag Life of a Mental Health Warrior comes in.

This book isn’t about minimalism or deprivation. It’s about a mindset shift: Less Stuff, More Experiences.

It’s one of the most practical tools in the program because it creates space—mentally and physically—for real life to happen.

And it starts small. Sometimes… with a cabinet.

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Example One: The Dishes That Gave Us Our Time Back

Once we noticed the cabinet, we couldn’t unsee it. We realized something almost ridiculous: we don’t need choices. We need function.

One bowl that works for yogurt, soup and everything in between. One plate that handles most meals. One very Large Bowl for those times you need a giant salad. And a few extras for when we have company. That’s it.

Suddenly, washing dishes wasn’t a chore. It was fast. Use. Clean. Done. We stopped using the dishwasher because hand-washing a few dishes took less time than loading and unloading a machine.

And here’s the unexpected twist: with fewer dishes taking up space, we had room for spices. Better spices led to better food. Better food turned meals into experiences again.

Your Turn

Take one cabinet. Just one. Ask yourself: What do I actually use?

Keep the pieces that serve your real life — not your “someday” life. Notice how much time and energy you reclaim when maintenance drops away.

Less cleanup doesn’t just save time. It changes how your day feels — and those positive emotions quietly build resilience.

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Example Two: The Closet That Stopped Draining Our Mornings

After the kitchen, we turned to the closet. That familiar place where “nice” clothes go to quietly judge you.

We weren’t drowning in clothes — but we were drowning in decisions. So we asked a different question: What do we actually wear?

What stayed felt comfortable, confident and usable. What was left were the guilt clothes, the fantasy-life outfits and the “technically fits but…” pieces.

Mornings got easier. Laundry shrank. Mental energy returned. Getting dressed stopped being a debate.

Your Turn

Look at your closet through one lens: Real Life.

Not who you wish you dressed for. Not who you were years ago. Who you are now.

Keeping fewer, better-fitting options doesn’t limit you. It frees you — especially at the start of your day. And that positive mindset tends to follow you everywhere you go.

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Example Three: The Garage That Gave Us Our Evenings Back

Every home has a danger zone. Ours was the garage. It wasn’t chaos—but it was crowded with “just in case.” Just in case we needed it. Just in case it was useful. Just in case someday came knocking.

Applying the One Bag Life question — does this support the life we’re actually living? —  changed everything.

Clear space meant less moving things around. Less time searching. Less friction leaving the house. And more time connecting with people. With our Warrior Tribe. With life.

Your Turn

Pick your trouble spot.

Don’t ask, Could I use this someday? Ask, Does this help me live today?

Then take one small action. Start removing what no longer fits that question. You’ll quickly discover that empty space isn’t depressing at all — it’s an invitation to get out, connect with your tribe and live the day!

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Wrap Up: Small Choices — Bigger Life

I’m Bruce Schutter and One Bag Life of a Mental Health Warrior isn’t about owning less for the sake of less. It’s about living more.

That quiet little cabinet taught me something powerful: when you stop managing stuff, you start gaining time, presence and peace.

Less clutter. More connection. Less maintenance. More life. And the reminder that you don’t have to start big — you just have to start.

Because every item you release creates space for what actually matters. And that’s where real happiness lives.

So if you’re struggling, remember this: Warriors look at the whole picture of their lives.

Take a few minutes. Choose one small area. Apply the One Bag Life philosophy — and then watch how those small choices begin to add up in powerful ways!

Bruce Schutter

Every day is a chance to choose strength — because YOU'RE IN CHARGE!