I've been glancing through Apartment Therapy: The Eight Step Home Cure recently and found one of the author's comments really enlightening. Clutter isn't about stuff. It is about procrastination (or nostalgia, as Dan pointed out). It is about not living in the present.
His comments hit home because I clutter up much of my home in order to avoid reality. I could decide about the stuff on my counter today or put it off til tomorrow... or next week... or maybe it'll go away before I have to admit that I never used those lovely things I bought. I used to never clean my fridge because it felt like a slap in the face to realize that I had let food go bad. Now, I at least declutter my fridge once a week, admitting that I let some food go back but hoping that by being able to see what is in it, I may prevent future waste.
We have a lovely counter connecting our kitchen and dining room. Usually it is covered with unread mail, children's drawings to be filed, CDs to be uploaded, books to be read, and many other things. Feeling challenged to deal with clutter, and knowing that a clean counter makes me happy, I decided to attack it. It wasn't that hard. I put away the CDs. I recycled or shredded the mail. I dealt with the books. It wasn't really that bad.
Will I ever upload the CDs? I don't know. Maybe, but if I don't, I am no worse off than now.
Will I ever look at the counter? Definitely, dozens of times per day, and I feel happier and freer each time I look.
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