Let That Shit Go!

Tonight I invited my cousin over to help me to gather up the items from the basement that I would be selling at the community garage sale this week.  I did my best to see how much of the things I have collected over the years I could let go of while thinking to myself, "Elliott, let that shit go".  In spite of the garage now being full of things I am willing to let go of and sell, for whatever I get, there still remains a number of things in the basement.  I now know that it is harder than I thought to make those kinds of decisions about what to keep and what to sell.  I feel like my mother who when you go to her home there is barely any space that does not have an object in and around and on top of things. Although the my home is beautiful according to most I have manged to collect enough other things to where I am now confused and irritated by it.  My intention is to let that shit go and move on, while avoiding any additional purchases.  God knows I have enough and that the Goodwill and the Salvation Army are the next step if the goods don't sell this week.

Letting stuff go is hard for us but there are really so many rewards when we allow ourselves to let go of things we don't utilize and things that are just taking up space in our homes.  Getting rid of things we don't need not only clears our home of any additional clutter, it clears our mind at the same time.  When we release things we also make room in our life to enjoy what we have better.  By keeping things we don't need we become confused and unable to organize and find the things we do need and use.  There is truly a good argument for getting rid of things and de-cluttering our home.

I have often asked myself why we hold on to things that we don't use or need and the response is the same.  We come from a place of lack when we hold onto things.  We are afraid to give things away because we convince ourselves that one day we will need them.  When it involves clothing we act as though we will be that size again and if we get rid of it we may need it when we lose weight.  There are all kinds of ways we convince ourselves that we need this or that item and believe that if we release it we are going to be sorry later.  We may even be able to sell it someday and make some money.  We pollute our minds into thinking things that don't make sense about keeping material things.  In fact at the core of keeping and even hoarding things is the fear of not having enough.  In reality we have enough and more but don't see it.

Giving things away should give us a sense of release and of gratitude.  We should feel good about recycling things we don't need that someone out there may need and put to good use.  When we give away things we are a part of something that is helpful in our world.  We are making a difference and allowing ourselves to be the generous and giving humans that we should be.  Once we find a way to let go we end up feeling good about it.  It is just that initial step that we need to allow ourselves to do and do so with love in our hearts.  Nothing we hold on to so tightly could be more important than sharing it with others.  Nothing we have should be so valuable that we cannot let it go to another person who needs it.

Maria is a hoarder.  She is a very organized and almost OCD in the way she hoards.  Every time she goes out on a shopping spree she carefully takes all the tags off and puts it somewhere in her home.  The trouble is that every single room in her home with few exceptions have clothes, shoes, accessories and artifacts.  The house is completely filled including the basement.  Somehow Maria justified her hoarding by making sure everything is put away and appears relatively organized.  Still there is little that she is willing to sell, give away or dispose of.  The day that she dies her daughter will be stuck with the task of disposing of all these articles of clothing she has collected over years and years and years.

My motivation may be like some of you and that is that I don't want to die and leave my children with a huge mess to organize and dispose of.  After all there are very few people who collect their parents belongings and keep them.  More often than not it is a pain in their behind and a lot of extra work.  For this reason I am going to advocate for less things as we age.  The less things we have the better.and the less we have the more organized we can be.  The truth is that we don't need a lot of stuff to feel secure or to be happy.  When we see how wonderful we feel letting go of the things that weigh us down we are apt to more readily release that which is heavy on our daily life.  That which gives us more work to do.