I recently did fall cleaning and clearing of my closet, my hope chest, and my storage space. It is unbelievable how much stuff I gathered in order to donate, shred, or throw away. It was as if I have not done it in years, but actually I had last completed this task in November. Some of the realizations I discovered while “cleaning out my closet”, were eye opening and liberating.
First of all, I noticed the temptation to look through things just to try to keep them longer. Thank goodness I somehow resisted this urge. I threw away many photos. I reminisced about the various times in my life from childhood to now, and I came to the conclusion that I would keep a group shot or two from each time period. I threw away photos that my friends and family were not fond of in the first place. I kept the shots in focus and I kept the shots of people in my life. I did not need to keep photos of the Australians that crashed in our college shack in the summer of ’95. I did not need to keep a photo of a guy that taught me to play pool.
I also threw away old cards and the clunky photo albums that were oh so popular in the 90’s. Good riddance. Recycling those 5 albums made room many other items I decided to keep. Why did I have a tinge of feeling bad when throwing out photos of people who’s name I didn’t remember? Though, it did make sense that throwing out cards from people was harder. The good news is that the temporary guilty feeling did not stop me from de-cluttering my life.
The other realization I had was that I love looking at my clean, tidy and organized closet, storage space and hope chest. Wow! It was calming and it made me feel as though I accomplished something big! I also re-discovered some of my favorite books, training material and college material. Some of my co-workers are enjoying the DBT binders as I write.
The final aspect of de-cluttering that I embraced is that I have made room for new people, new experiences and new memories. I love the adventure I am on in my here and now and also the adventure of my future. So, if de-cluttering and clearing out sounds good to you, give it a try.
