Did you ever look around and realize that you just have too much crap in your life? I mean... loads of it. Everywhere you look filled with things that you now realize do nothing for you other than holding down the crap that sits below it?
Well... this pretty much describes the picture of the house that I now sit in. I'd like to say that it isn't my fault, but that wouldn't be the truth. Oh, I have my excuses... lots of them. I'll even entertain you with them over the next few posts, but the bottom line is that I let this happen.
What I'm deciding to do about it now is somehow slightly different than usual... Usually when I get this feeling of dread, I move some stuff and move some more stuff and maybe things get cleaned up a bit and I generally forget about the overwhelming mounds of unnecessary things and settle back into a calm day to day world where the amount of stuff that I have seems acceptable...
Today, this task will be handled differently. I’m starting this blog about the experience and holding myself responsible to the task at hand by sharing it with the world.
What does cleaning up my life mean?
I think it means more than just spring-cleaning.
I think it means finding out everything unnecessary and eliminating it… Further, I think it extends to repairing and improving my house, my mind and my body. Take this a step further and you will find the need for repairing old friendships and becoming a better person.
My mom did all of this right before she passed away.
I’d like to start sooner…
First off I will need a mission.
Obviously the first item on the list is easy… Get rid of the crap.
But the list is longer than that – As I said before, I have my reasons for getting to this point. And I will need to identify and rectify those problems as well if I’m going to even hope that I can make any “gutter cleaning” stick for more than a short time.
So, lets fill out the list.
1. Remove from my possession and house any item that does not serve an identifiable and valuable service. (I’m sure that I’ll have to narrow this down sooner or later. For now, this will do.)
2. Convert as many of those items to positive income, or when that is not possible, to a tax-deductible donation or genuinely needed non-deductible donation.
3. Discover and repair all broken items or problems in my home.
And of course, the really hard ones will follow those.
4. Figure out what causes the malaise in the first place and stop as much as possible of the malignant behavior.
5. Fix any personal damage I have caused to others.
6. Re-kindle old friendships that are worth having.
I think that is enough for now. It’s a good mission start, and while it is a bit of a challenge and does seem a bit daunting at first, I think that if taken in stages this could be done without as much effort as one might think.
Wish me luck.
-Don
Cleaning up or straighting out one's personel space is a misson of it's own. I took this misson during my divorce. Each item had a purpose. It was my job to figure out the purpose. Sometimes the memory attached was enough. Sometimes not. There is a sense of freedom when the project is done. Don't quit because your tired. You have to finish to get the reward.
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