A few years ago I realized that I was beginning to feel stifled and weighed down by the things in my life. The home I once saw filled with treasures had morphed into a hugely heavy weight about my neck. The keeping up with it all was becoming too much and I realized that I had to make a change. But the thing I did not realize was how resistant others would be to my change.
The first thing I did was buy a smaller home about an hour from the big home. I said it was a getaway home, but I am beginning to realize that it was to get away from all the heaviness of the big house and the weight of the things and their time and effort to maintain it all, keep track of it and even feel that I was even utilizing it.
When I moved into the smaller home I bought very little for it. A table and chairs for the dining room and a small entertainment center were the first items. I brought a bed from the big house to sleep on and even reduced the number of sheets and comforters. I had a really spartan existence here and loved it!
Then the time came, after our youngest graduated and my husband moved here that more items also came. A sofa and chair, a front room table and chairs for that and I started to feel that even this house was becoming too full of 'stuff' and I realized that I have an affinity for certain things and a revulsion to others.
Clothing I can take on in great volume, mostly because I can see that easily being taken to a charity after my passing and not causing any angst for my family to remove and move on.
But other things, such as decor or special finds on a trip or things that spoke to me in the moment....those are the things I worry that my family will hem and haw over and not know what to do with. Or (worse?) just discard without a thought and never really know or recognize how much I enjoyed that item.
I have reached the age where I realize that death is a reality. The subconscious has caught up to my conscious and there will be no escaping this final breath in this life. That my body and soul will part ways and while I don't believe it is going to be in the very near future-you never really know. Many someones left their homes this morning with thoughts of what they would do when they returned that night...and never will. Car accidents, heart attacks, building collapse...they are all possible and I am realizing that I am not immune to checking out much earlier than intended.
So I am endeavoring to slim down the things in my life as much as I have endeavored to slim down me. Oddly, it was a bit easier to lose the body weight than to move on from the inanimate collective. The items I have chosen to surround myself with need to bring joy and not smother or weigh me down. The ability to surrender to the trash or donation box when something has stopped bringing joy or serving a useful purpose is one I am working on, sometimes diligently and sometimes less so.
In the coming months I am going to try to be more purposeful in my shedding things and hopefully feel much lighter by summer!
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