I finally got my attic back. Over the past few years, changes in the housing setups for the children have landed quite a bit of stuff in my attic. She had a jeep load and so did he. I got everything down and took it to them. Then promptly loaded my own stuff up there. I had things tucked in closets and the washroom. With a place to put things I don’t use often, I can make room to spread out things I do use regularly.
The winter cleaning has finally begun. I started with the washroom. It is very large and has a lot of storage space. With the boxes removed and put in the attic, I have space to move things from crowded closets. My idea is to eliminate layers. I want to be able to get something from a shelf without having to move other things around. It will require getting rid of some things, too. Things I don’t really want.
Both the children have their own homes now that our daughter has bought hers. I have so many things I have held on to in case they want them. It’s time to get my house together. I don’t mind them not wanting things I will offer them. I just wanted to allow them time to be in a place to take them if they do want them. Otherwise, the Salvation Army will have a few more things on the shelves.
I have several empty boxes awaiting things. I haven’t filled them up. I thought I would have by now. However, I have had more company than I had planned. Wonderful company.
I’m working on a system or whatever than calls for no zero days. The idea is to have certain things I will do every day and tasks I have on my things to do list and each one counts. If I do even one of the everyday tasks or one of the things to do, it makes it not a zero day. One done is not a zero day.
The older Duchess was with me the other day and she and I were talking about it. I was sort of thinking out loud about it at least not being a zero day. She wanted an explanation. I told her that had certain things to do and if I did even one it was not a zero day. I named a couple of things I had done and she reminded me of a couple more things.
Her encouragement made my heart warm. The little ones are paying attention. Lord, let me get more right than wrong for them to see and hear and feel.
I always want to get rid of clutter. To get rid of the too much in my life. To edit and refine my vision. To focus clearly on the goals. One of the ways I have focused over the past week or two is my on-line clutter.
I went through my pins on Pinterest and deleted more than four thousand pins. I deleted boards and edited and remade boards. If I want to use Pinterest to help develop my focus, then ruthless editing is required. It is a source for the vision board I wrote about a few weeks ago.
I have a couple of friends who like to communicate through email. I am terribly negligent checking my email. This very morning, I went through my email and cleared out folders of old mail, cleared all the new mail, pared down to two folders to e-file items. I want to keep up with this clutter collector and be ready to receive further communication from them.
In working on Pinterest, I reviewed pins about getting rid of clutter. Many, if not most, advisors on de-cluttering have lists of things to get rid of that are nothing more than lists of trash. Yes, we should get rid of things that are broken or damaged or missing parts. But, so much of the mess I keep is not broken, damaged or missing parts. Much is barely used. Much is terribly sentimental.
I can probably work my way through the barely used. It is the sentimental that gives pause. I have a plan to work toward my overall goal. If I cull every single item possible from the non-sentimental items, I will have space to display, to use, to store for easy access, those items that are sentimental. Right?
I spent a couple of hours reading over past posts related to home keeping and this very line of thought. In over seven years, my song has not changed much. I found my posts from years ago sounding like I wrote them a couple of months ago.
I do have one change to note. In the past, realizing that would have made me feel frustrated, anxious, like a failure, hopeless. Now, my feelings are of respect for my own determination. My problems are not solved. I have not evolved as much as I had hoped. I feel I have a long way to go to reach my goals regarding my home keeping. But I have persisted. Persistence is key to resolving issues, to making progress, to having success in any endeavor.
I sometimes feel I am not moving along as I desire because I haven’t improved my strategy. I am doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. That could be true. Still, I continue to seek new ways to work, new angles or attitudes to pursue. I know I am recognizing some behaviors that are counter to my desired end. I know I am not doing things as emotionally reactive as I once did. I believe I am more deliberate and quicker to catch myself when I am not being deliberate.
In thinking about my first 13 months retired, I will say I haven’t done a lot of things I thought I would. Maybe because when confronted with no excuses, I find those things aren’t as appealing as they were hiding behind the curtain of “someday”. I have a number of items on my list that are still appealing. They require my pushing out of the cocoon I have created. They require my using the planner I got for my birthday to schedule the tasks needed to get closer to doing those items. They require me deleting ideas and mindsets that keep me distracted doing what doesn’t matter to me and prevents my challenging myself to do what does matter. They also require my paying attention to how I feel about them as they roll to the front of the pursuit. I must be diligent to hit “delete” whenever needed to keep myself on the correct path.
I hear my daughter reminding me, I only have to keep, to do, to be what makes me happy. What I choose to pursue in my pursuit of happiness is just that. My choice. She not only looks like her father, she sounds like him.
I will continue to delete things from my home, my life, my mindset. I may never reach the point I call “the click”. That point when something inside me clicks and says, “Ta Da!! This is it!” But it is something to pursue.
Not every life has to be headline making. There aren’t enough headlines for that. My life needs only those headlines I see on my to do lists. Headlines filled with adventures in blow up pools in the backyard, walks along woodland trails, rides among longhorn cattle, rainy afternoons on the glitter carpeted back porch. Those things must never be deleted. Those are the true sentimental things I want to display, to use, to store in memory.
Raining Orchids 