Tag Archives: simplifying

Letting Go Challenge: Week Nineteen

February 7, 2016 N J Ray Leave a comment

THE JUNK:

1. Movie: Double Hugh Grant movie combo
2., 3., 4. Rusted Fork, Knife, and Spoon
5. Book: Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer
6. Key Chain
7. Teddy Bear
8. Router
9. Christmas ornament
10. Black rose
11. Rusted Cable
12. Pocket Calendar from 2003
13. Rubber bat
14. Framed crocheted butterfly
15. Empty perfume bottle
16., 17., 18., 19. Large glasses
20. Part of a cat feeder
21. Nail file

THE FILING:

I did not get my filing done this week at all, although I did start a bin to put all my notebooks and binders in one place. Well, a bin and an empty box, courtesy of the garage.

I have no idea how I managed to collect so many notebooks and binders. I use them to write in, to organize whatever in; I buy them because they have peace signs on them or some other cute design.

Oh. My. God. So it’s a start.

THE BONUS:

The interesting thing about this week is I’m finally clearing out the stuff I’ve had from when I first moved back to Mississippi. The router, the cable, the modem, and the cat feeder (who knows where the other part is) are things that were muddied by Hurricane Katrina, as was the framed butterfly.

My grandmother, before her hands became too knotty to do much, was an absolute artist when it came to crocheting. Filet was her specialty: incredibly time-consuming work, fine thread, and endless patience. She did her best to teach me how to crochet afghans, but all I mastered was the chain and single/double stitches.

I did manage to make a king sized afghan during a 6 week convalescent leave from surgery once. I just kept going and going and going.

While I do have a couple of her afghans, all I have left of her filet is this butterfly. In all of her work, she made window dressings, table runners, and all sorts of gorgeous pieces. When she’d finish, she would give them away.

As I was slushing through the mud, I spied it and grabbed it, throwing it in a box to deal with later.

It’s now later.

I’m going to keep the butterfly and toss the frame. I can wash it by hand, but I think it will always have a blue hue, the background bleeding into her art, forced by a hurricane.

It seems fitting.

One of the big gains this week is my garage. I’m no where on schedule (always on Nancy time, I suppose), but the space is definitely widening on my shelves. There are shelves in this garage. I had never seen a thing until I toured it for the first time.

Ideally, I’ll have nothing on them but animal supplies and water, but we’ll see how that goes. I still have quite a few boxes left, ones that aren’t even on the shelves but are on the floor, making it difficult to get to the shelves.

I think it’s still a win. And these days, I’ll take any win I can get.

Challenge, Letting Go

Letting Go Challenge: Week Ten

December 6, 2015 N J Ray 2 Comments

One of the best questions I’ve ever been asked is, “Where are your hands and feet?”

It sounds silly, really, but it’s one of the most profound things I’ve ever been asked.

I say I want to do this and that, meet this person and that. Accomplish this and that.

But when I ask myself where my hands and feet are, sometimes they’re not actually doing what I want to do or moving toward where I want to be.

So I can correct. No need for punishment or judgment, just a simple correction: put my hands and feet to work doing what I want to do.

But sometimes I am doing what I want to, as evidenced by my hands and feet. Here it is, ten weeks, and I’m still getting rid of junk.

Some of the things I’ve accomplished in the process:

I have a gap on my bookshelf. Considering I didn’t want to even think about my books ten weeks ago, I’m a bit impressed with myself.

Not a thigh gap--far more exciting — Not a thigh gap–far more exciting.

2. My closet is way, way more organized (not quite finished, but I still have many things to get rid of.)

3. I’ve started an organized medical file for taxes.

4. I’ve gotten rid of pizza coupons that have been on my fridge since April of 2014. Really.

Some things that have started happening (perhaps side-effects, but then again, I don’t like assigning causality):

I pick things up more often. I have a tendency to leave coffee cups wherever I had coffee last. I can say with confidence (and yes, a little bit of joy) that the only coffee cup currently on my table–or scattered about the house–is the one I’m drinking from right now.

2. I’ve discovered I really like giving things away. While organizing a drawer, I came across several pairs of gloves–things I’ve never bought myself and yet somehow came to own. That very day at work someone was complaining about being very cold, so I found an opportunity to give them to someone I knew could use them. It’s not altruism so much as it is laziness–I still have this ingrained thing in me that I really don’t want to throw things away unless I have to, and yet I still really, really don’t want to give it to Goodwill. So I give away what I can to people I know, and by taking it, they’re doing me a favor. I only have 1/4 a box of stuff to go to Goodwill. Some of the stuff I could probably sell–movies and stuff, things in good condition. I could use the money, but that’s not how I want to make money. That idea of not being “how” I make money isn’t something I really can explain. It just feels wrong.

3. I’m reading more. I’m in a race to read all the books I have (and want to read) before buying any more. Oh, I’m also reading fewer books at a time, which does in fact streamline the process. I’m currently reading Eric Butterworth’s Spiritual Economics for 10 minutes in the morning, and currently, Bernie Sanders’s Outsider in the White House in the evening.

4. I’m adding another challenge–a gratitude challenge. Find one (different) thing every day that I’m grateful for, for a total of 7 a week. It’s as much about establishing a practice as it is to grow.

So anyway, the stuff:

1. Post-it pad
2. Water balloons
3. Angel candle holder
4. Love and Peace lunchbox
5. Small black bag
6. Red shirt
7. Orange shirt
8. Camera box
9. 2014 calendar
10. Broken dust pan
11. Movie: Mr. and Mrs. Smith
12. Movie: Journey to the Center of the Earth
13. Movie: Hannibal Lector Two Pack
14. Movie: An Officer and a Gentleman
15. Make Up bag
16. and 17. Nail Polishes
18. Mascara
19. Clearasil
20. Lipstick
21. Eye pencil

The make up stuff might very well be from when I was i my early 20’s. Some of it looks decidedly goth-y.

I actually filed/shredded 75 things this week, far above my requisite 21. Considering I had 15 separate things (and counting) on Enbrel, I’m not sure it’s much of an accomplishment.

But it’s something.

Challenge

Sunday Something: Adaptation and Letting Go

September 27, 2015 N J Ray Leave a comment

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