Well I brought home an armful of stuffed animals from my Dad's house. 5 so far. 2 of which are in such bad shape that I don't feel they can be donated, and 3 of which were not only in OK shape but were nostalgic enough that I think they have a good shot at being 'adopted' once I donate them. Charles and I took photos of them all so I could remember them. Then the 3 that were in decent shape went to the Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries donation center. The other 2 are still sitting at home, waiting to be disposed of. It makes me sad, but I just need to start letting go of things that don't make me feel fantastic. The photos will be enough to remember them by. I really want for my baby Reed to get to have his own toys and special things, and not be bogged down by things that used to belong to me. When I am old or dead I don't want him to have to make the decision to part with my things-- I want to live a life that is clutter free and happy and restful. I want to model good behavior for him. Even though he is currently too young to learn from my de-cluttering behavior, it is good practice for me. So even though the task is not done, I am proud of myself for taking steps in the right direction.
I also disposed of lots of papers from college that I had been hanging onto mostly for a sake of having the 'complete set.' It was kind of like I was thinking it would be cool to have EVERY paper, note, reading, etc from undergrad. Well I let go of that attitude over the long weekend and kept only a few papers from classes that I really enjoyed. I even parted with one of my old Japanese text books, because if the time comes (and I hope it will) that I want to re-learn Japanese, I will probably have better tools at my disposal. And a partially completed workbook that already has some answers filled in is not going to help me learn. So I am proud of myself for taking steps toward my goal. They are baby steps, but by blogging about it and patting myself on the back, I am hoping to reinforce the behavior and make it more likely that I will continue. :)
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Great job., I hung onto Organic Chemistry notes for years. It's not like I'm a chemist. I think I needed to remind myself that "I did this! I passed organic!" But, then I realized that my kids were never ever going to look at my organic notes for reference. Ha! Good luck and keep it up!
ReplyDeleteSomehow I think in my subconscious I thought someone might someday be impressed with all the things I had kept. "Oooh, a COMPLETE SET of Anna's Undergraduate course materials! It's amazing that she didn't lose a single item!" Once I realized that I was the person most likely to be impressed by this, and that even I was not impressed, it was easier to let it go. ;) Now Organic Chemistry on the other hand-- THAT is impressive!
ReplyDeleteWow! I had no idea you studied Japanese, that's pretty cool. Parting with all of my undergrad literature books (English major) was really hard!
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