Wednesday, December 19, 2012

10 Things: Slacking Off

In some ways, this is the perfect time of year to undertake this mission to get rid of 10 things every day.  Around here it's a good idea to clear out some of the possessions we no longer need, to make room for all of the new Christmas treasures that will be gifted to our household very soon.  Finally, I am able to tell by the empty spaces that something has been going on here--that all my effort has not been in vain.  It feels so good to be starting the new year with a clean(er) slate. 

On the other hand, it seems slightly ridiculous to be discarding a paltry 10 items a day when it seems like at least twice that enters our home every day.  Granted, most of it's food, which we need and will use relatively quickly, but some of it is not.  Some of it is permanent stuff for which I need to find permanent homes.

This is also an extremely busy time of year, for everyone (oh, by the way, did I mention that, less than 2 months after finally giving up our guest bedroom (click here, here and here) partly because I couldn't justify keeping it in the face of other needs when it's used around 10 days per year, we are needing a guest bedroom?  Because we have two sets of guests coming and staying for a total of 9 days.  Yeah.  Because that's how these things work), and you know we've been sick (click here, here, and here) around here.

So...I've been slacking off.  There have been many days that have ended with no purging; there have been entire weeks where I haven't gotten rid of one.single.thing.  (OK, maybe week instead of weeks).  Shocking, I know.  

But you know what?  It's OK.  It's OK that I have slacked off these past few weeks.  I have worked through some major issues surrounding possessions, and I've grown much during these few months.  I made this commitment to myself, not to bury myself in one more obligation, but to free my spirit from being weighed down by clutter--I've obeyed the spirit of the law in this rule I set for myself, if not the letter of the law.  The moment it became oppressive to follow through on my 10 things commitment, I gave myself the grace to realize that, this, too, is something that I can release.  It's outlived its usefulness, I don't need it anymore. 

This is not to say that I'm done getting rid of things--not at all--there's still a lot of work to be done.  It's just that I don't need to put a number on it anymore.

Happy de-cluttering, everyone!

Click here to see all of the 10 Things posts.

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