Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Sometimes, it's hard getting rid of things I've had for a long time

I've been decluttering literally for years. Possibly even decades. Getting rid of Stuff is not easy at this point, although it once was. That stack of magazines? Gone. The old textbooks? Gone.

It's harder now. I look through piles or shelves of things (yes, I still have piles and shelves of things) and the things I see are all things I've chosen to keep. Some things have made the cut numerous times. That pretty milk glass cake plate is a collectable. It's almost an antique, if it isn't already! Surely I need to keep that! Likewise the copy of Tom Sawyer I got from my grandfather (I've always hated Tom, but I loved my grandfather. Don't I need to keep the book? I know I have other things from him, but he wrote an inscription in the book!).

And yet, I keep moving forward. I get rid of a few things, or a few tasks, every day. I move from a busy, cluttered environment and mindset to something...a little more open.

It's not a fast process. I've been doing this for years, but I feel like I've made a lot more progress in the last three-ish months than I have in previous years. It may be the power of naming, but I look at things a lot harder than I have before. And, frankly, I want to be able to write down that I have done something, and not look like a slacker.

But decluttering is still hard sometimes.

Today I found a bunch of silk flowers we used in preschool to make fairy dolls. I've been keeping these flower bits for so many years, repeatedly telling myself that I might need them to make dolls for a niece, or cousin. Today I got rid of all the remaining silk flowers. It should have been an easy decision years ago, but it hasn't been. Finally, this time through, they seemed like something I could pass on to someone else. And it feels good.

1 comment:

  1. thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. yeah, it's hard getting rid of things sometimes. But keep doing something to make yourself busy. I like the idea of dolls.

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