As with most things in my life, I find it difficult to do things half-ass or casually. So, for the last few days, I have thrown myself headfirst into spring cleaning. I go from room to room culling through and getting rid of all this crap I've collected over the years. It must be infectious because, even now, Della's into it!!
Actually, this is my third or fourth family downsizing in the past few years. The question ever on my mind is: What do we really need? If an item doesn't fill a definite need and it's not something of sentimental value, it gets chucked (i.e., recycled, donated or trashed -- in that order).
The first time I went through this I didn't get rid of very much stuff. As I've noted in this space before, since I don't connect with other human beings very well, I have a strong tendency to become attached to objects. The consequence of this personality trait is that I obsessively collect things and most of what I have obsessively collected throughout my life is meaningless junk!!
Yet, despite the fact that my most rational mind realizes most of my stuff is junk, my emotional self finds it hard to toss A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G away.
The beauty of going through this spring cleaning process over and over again is that it makes it less painful each time around. I'm actually now at the point that I kind of enjoy this feeling of "letting go". It's rather cathartic finally to be able to clear this clutter out once and for all.
We still have too much stuff around, but the amount has been greatly thinned. I'm hopeful that within another 2-3 years I'll be able to report that almost all of it is gone and we haven't replaced it with new junk -- which is always a worry. ;-)
Actually, this is my third or fourth family downsizing in the past few years. The question ever on my mind is: What do we really need? If an item doesn't fill a definite need and it's not something of sentimental value, it gets chucked (i.e., recycled, donated or trashed -- in that order).
The first time I went through this I didn't get rid of very much stuff. As I've noted in this space before, since I don't connect with other human beings very well, I have a strong tendency to become attached to objects. The consequence of this personality trait is that I obsessively collect things and most of what I have obsessively collected throughout my life is meaningless junk!!
Yet, despite the fact that my most rational mind realizes most of my stuff is junk, my emotional self finds it hard to toss A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G away.
The beauty of going through this spring cleaning process over and over again is that it makes it less painful each time around. I'm actually now at the point that I kind of enjoy this feeling of "letting go". It's rather cathartic finally to be able to clear this clutter out once and for all.
We still have too much stuff around, but the amount has been greatly thinned. I'm hopeful that within another 2-3 years I'll be able to report that almost all of it is gone and we haven't replaced it with new junk -- which is always a worry. ;-)
My family just had a major throwing-things-away day just last week. I plan on having it at least once every year. Amazing the amount of junk we accumulate without realising it.
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