I've started packing and it's kind of distressing. When I moved here two years ago I got rid of a lot of stuff. For some reason I had this idea that I didn't have a lot of things anymore! Unfortunately that is VERY far from true. I've packed, I don't know, about 10 boxes and I'm really shocked how much stuff I have. I'm trying to go through things and eliminate stuff rather than just dump it in a box.
Why do we hold onto things? I look at some of the stuff I've saved over the years and some is for sentimental reasons. A lot of it though is just because I think I might want it later or it seems wasteful to get rid of it. For example magazines. I'm a magazine collector and I have stacks and stacks of quilting and cross stitch magazines. I really don't want to keep most of them anymore but it's so hard to give things up! I've separated them into categories and decided to keep most of the cross-stitch ones. My daughter stitches and she's going to take a lot so it won't be like really getting rid of them. Most of the quilt magazines (over 200), I've listed on craigslist and am hoping to sell them to someone who will actually use them. So far no takers but I'm hopeful!
The physical act of getting rid of things isn't hard. It's really what it signifies. I threw out a lot of cooking magazines. I'm trying to eat healthier and I don't want to keep magazines full of comfort food recipes that tempt me. It's hard though - it feels like I'm throwing part of my life away. But it's good because it's an old life, one that I don't want, that doesn't fit anymore. And maybe throwing out stuff like magazines will make it easier to throw out some of the emotional baggage. I feel somewhat like Bilbo Baggins when he tried to give up the ring:
Bilbo stood for a moment tense and undecided. Presently he sighed. "All right," he said with an effort. "I will." Then he shrugged his shoulders, and smiled rather ruefully. "After all that's what this party business was all about, really: to give away lots of birthday presents, and somehow make it easier to give it away at the same time. It hasn't made it any easier in the end, but it would be a pity to waste all my preparations."
I'm afraid, as Bilbo found, throwing out physical stuff isn't going to make it any easier in the end, but I'm going to keep it up. If nothing else it means less stuff to move. And it would be a pity to waste all my preparations.
3 comments:
Unless, like Bilbo, you have been possessed for some number of years by a ring of power, I think that the physical act of throwing things away will have the desired effect. And, lest you forget, throwing the ring away saved Bilbo's life. Indeed it was remarked upon later that he was the only entity in all of Middle Earth who willingly relinquished a ring of power.
Well I was possessed for a number of years but I'm tougher than any stinking ring. I did not forget that. In fact I'm counting on it.
good for you. don't forget that.
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