Two of the biggest lessons that RA is teaching me involve adaptation and letting go.
I’m not quite as good as either as I’d like. For example, I’m still steaming about the fact that all week I’d been longing for chocolate ice cream and, braving rain and being unable to drive (Thank you, Driver!), I managed to make it through the grocery store, buying supplies to make several meals and sandwiches, only to find that my chocolate ice cream had magically become coffee and donuts ice cream.
Who makes such a thing? Who chooses such a thing?
I haven’t quite let go of the fact that I didn’t double check it before I put it in the cart (I swear, I was looking right at the chocolate!) nor have I adapted by even tasting it yet.
So there’s that.
A friend of mine is doing a 30-day minimalism challenge on Instagram. On the first day, she gets rid of one thing; the second two things, and so forth. At the end of the month, she’d be rid of a shit-ton of stuff. Four hundred and something, I think she said.
I’m too lazy to count them for specificity.
I wanted to do something like this. I’ve been in the house for six years now, and I still have boxes I haven’t unpacked. I have tons of stuff I never use.
At any rate, that’s waaaaay too ambitious for me, and so I had to adapt it so that I’d at least have a chance at success. My goal for the next four weeks is to get rid of 3 things per day. That seems far more doable, and I seem to work best in 3’s. I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s a memory thing. But because there are days that I may not be able to do anything, I’m going to make it simpler: 21 items/week.
It is simple in theory, but the truth is, I collect stuff. I don’t mean to. I just do. I hate throwing anything away.
Cause, you know, I’ll need it as soon as I throw or give it away (is has happened), or magically, I’ll drop 20 pounds and be able to fit in my old-favorite jeans again as soon as I donate them.
That hasn’t happened, by the way.
If all goes well, I will have 84 fewer things in it that I’ll never, ever use.
Today, I found a shirt that doesn’t fit and 2 pairs of tennis shoes that I’ve given up on trying to wear. Those I’ll donate at work tomorrow. I also found — in my garage while waiting for my ride to the grocery store–not one but 2 broken coffee pots. In my junk drawer, I found a set of Mardi Gras beads that some of the beads have come off.
So that’s 5 things so far. Sixteen more to go this week.
It’s a start. Here’s to a simpler life.
Have you ever done a de-cluttering challenge? If so, how’d it work out?
Lyrical Fool 