So lately I have had a little obsession. But I would really rather call it a passion. (hey, I'd been looking for that!) It's called "packing light". The idea of minimalism. No, not living in a 30 square foot home. But the idea of going through all of your things and getting rid of what you don't need.
It all started a couple months ago when my sister and I discovered we both love helping our friends go through their closets and helping them get rid of old clothes and shoes. I helped my friend Jill do this when I visited her in St. Louis and I found myself asking, "Do you have any more boxes we can go through!?!" It was so much fun and she loved the moral support I provided along the way. And by moral support I mean, "Jill. That looks like something you wore in the 3rd grade. NO."
So anyway, my sister and I fantasized about starting up a professional organizing business one day. Is that such a thing? Well, turns out it is. And there's a woman in Minnesota who helps people just like me start their own professional organizing business. What are the chances she's from Minnesota?! See for yourself: http://www.timetoorganize.com/
Since I have discovered my new passion, I have gone through my clothes, my bookshelf and these green storage drawers in my room. Each organizing session made me feel SO great afterward. Drawers that were once stuffed so full they could barely open were now half empty and I actually KNEW what was in them. I was on a roll. I still plan to do the cabinet under my sink and my mail basket (kind of dreading that one but it will feel so good afterward!)
For my trip to Europe, I checked out the book "Packing Light" from the library. It's about a girl who goes on a road trip to all 50 states with her friend and she writes a book about how they "packed light" literally and figuratively. It covered everything from how it was living out of her suitcase to how she dealt with emotional baggage and relationships and fear. It was a pretty great book and the last chapter where she summed up all her wisdom was really inspiring. I wrote some of my favorite passages in my phone. Here's one where she's reflecting on the fear she had before leaving for her 6 month road trip:
"You don't have to go. You can stay home. It's up to you. But if you let fear stop you from doing what you really want to do, you'll regret that forever."
The next book I have on hold at the library is called The Joy of Less. This book is a more practical book about how to go through each room of your house and ways to approach the "getting rid of things" process. I believe she also talks about materialism in general and why we have attachments to our things. (According to reviews on Amazon)
The idea of living on less has crept into my life in seemingly small but interesting ways.
1. Shampoo and conditioner. I didn't check a bag for my trip to Europe and so I used a pea sized amount of shampoo and conditioner on my hair for 2 weeks from tiny bottles and had half left over at the end of the trip. (I know it seems silly, but this is an instance where I EMBRACED having less when I could've easily complained about not having enough.)
2. Cutting my hair short. I did this back in April and I don't know if it was the feeling that it was short, or the feeling of change, but I loved the way it made me feel. I am setting up my next haircut appointment tomorrow and am going to go even shorter this time.
3. Throwing out really old things. I brought a purse to Europe that I bought probably 5 years ago. I carried around my water bottle and other things in it as we traveled each day. I started noticing little black pieces of dirt on the mouth of my water bottle and I wondered what it was. Finally I realized, the rim of my purse was literally deteriorating and getting all over my water bottle. I noticed other parts of the purse were stretched and pulled and worn and I wondered how I hadn't noticed this before. I decided I would throw out that purse on my last day in Italy. It felt great.
Tonight as I was getting into my PJ's, I picked up my ratty old tie dye t-shirt (if you could even still call it that) with massive holes all over it from 2001. It was a shirt that my sister's friend gave her in high school that my sister wore as a sleeping shirt for years and then passed down to me as a sleeping shirt. I looked at it and decided "You know what. I am not going to sleep in this anymore." It was a RAG. The holes were so big and I had cut off the sleeves a couple months ago. Why did I still have it?!?! I think sometimes, like my purse story, we do not realize how bad of shape our things are in until we really look at them. We are just so used to them. But tonight I decided, "I don't want to treat myself like a rag. I don't want to feel like a rag. I don't want to look in the mirror wearing a rag." So I sort of had this epiphany that packing light and getting rid of excess is not only about getting rid of the excess luxuries in life (or even non-luxuries that we simply don't use or need) but also the tattered old clothes, shirts, shoes, purses that flat out don't make us feel good about ourselves. How we feel about ourselves matters. And I'm not saying we should splurge on pedicures and $400 purses to make ourselves feel good. I am saying it is not a bad thing to get rid of old things that are "still usable" if they don't make us feel good. And we shouldn't feel guilty for doing so.
I am going to help a couple friends clean out their closets in the next couple of weeks. I am making it a priority because I really want to explore this new found passion. Wish us luck ;)
-Katie
