A Thought

I spent this rainy Sunday cleaning my apartment, going through stacks of old magazines, purging, and generally getting organized and cleaned up. I've admitted to being a bit of a pack rat, and I'm definitely working on that (thinking, if I had to move right now, would this get tossed or make the cut?) And needless to say, even though it's hard for me, I'm starting to throw away a lot more and more importantly, saving less, and bringing fewer and fewer things into my home.

As I was sorting through a stack of papers (old cards, menus, programs, tickets, etc.) I came across a few cards from my mom. Old birthday cards, thank you notes... It made me sad even to see the familiar note cards, and tears were streaming down my face by the time I opened them up, just to see her familiar hand writing, and her signature little heart dot over the 'i' in my name.

It hit me. Why do I bother saving all of these papers, tickets, business cards, receipts, memorabilia, and other things? All of my memories are in my mind. I don't need all of these other insignificant items. It was time to let go of these material things. The things that really matter? The people in my life. The experiences. The memories in my head.

I'm going to stop saving everything (except for these cards from my mom, those are now in a safe place and will be cherished forever). But all the other stuff? I don't need it. And it's just more stuff I'll have to eventually throw away.

This is the first step I'm going to take in simplifying my life. I'm going to look for more opportunities to eliminate the unnecessary stuff. The stuff that's just taking up space. And I don't just mean actual stuff. I mean all the mental crap too. I don't have the space, nor the time for that. Both physically and mentally. After all, why let the old memories sit at home and collect dust while I've got to get out there and live for new memories.