Creating Space for the Dream (Part 1)
I dated a guy once who was an “organized” pack rat. It drove me crazy! I would find myself trying to secretly throw away his shit stuff: papers, clothes he hadn’t touched in years, books, magazines, gadgets, I could go on and on. He reminded me of my grandmother who is a hoarder and when I mean hoarder, she has been cited by the city for having too much stuff (what can I say, the lady loves a good deal and never passes it up). Like my big hearted grandmother, for many people, they want to hold onto “things” just in case someday they might use it, wear it, or need it.
A few years ago, I developed a personal rule to get rid of clothes that I hadn’t worn in one year. For the most part, I thought I was successful at this rule and tidying up until I read…
The Magic of Tidying Up
Marie Kondo, the author of The Magic of Tidying Up has a gifted talent for understanding that all things have an energetic vibration in our lives and that we should only keep things that bring us joy.
After reading this book, I became inspired to “tidy up.” This blog is a recap of my emotional adventure creating space in my home.
Day 1 – I’m getting ready to start on my closet and as you can see from the before photo, it looks like an easy task (at least this is what I’m telling myself).
The first step is to put a lot of clothes on the floor. As I do this, I find myself putting some clothes on the floor and being EASILY distracted by mindless to do’s like, going and grabbing a drink, checking my phone. Despite my distractive behavior in this project, I’m going to focus and lock my attention to getting everything out of my closets and drawers and sit with it.
2 HOURS LATER
Awww fuck sh*t what the hell did I just do? I have clothes, socks, shoes, scarves, undies… all over my bedroom floor and my dog thinks it’s his new bed to lounge in. There is no way I’m going to get this done by noon, NO WAY. What I am experiencing during this process is finding clothes I’ve forgotten about, some categorized as hidden treasures. The biggest struggle now with having all of my clothes on the floor, is not knowing where to begin. Do I start with my coats, dresses, socks, the new folding technique mentioned in the book (it’s best to fold when possible)? This has turned out to be the worst laundry day ever!
I have to do this because I’m energetically creating space. After spending the last 15 minutes sitting and meditating in my closet and repeating to myself out loud everything that comes into this space will bring me joy and I will have the confidence to let go of things, I am shocked by how I feel. At first, I didn’t think I would have an issue with letting go of certain things, but the reality is, I do.
There are times when I am casual, professional, formal, athletic and it’s made me think about all the clothing choices I have made throughout my life. Most of my clothes have been easy to let go of, like a few of the pieces I’ve held onto from my twenties (low cleavage)… uhhh yea, I don’t think I’m ever going to wear these revealing clubbing blouses again. But then there are certain pieces like THE hot pink dress, when I asked myself the question, “Does this bring me joy?” (you have to say this for each piece according to the book) it triggers me to remember a past love. It was THE dress I wore on our first date and it was the date that was considered for a very long time, the best date ever. Romantic dinner, intimate moments, and feelings of I had found the one. I’ve become emotionally attached to that dress, but like I already promised myself, I’m creating space for the new, not holding onto my past memories (those will live on in my heart, not my closet). It is interesting to note how certain clothing items have the ability to take you back to a very specific moment in time including all the emotions that came along with that moment.
4:00 PM
F*ck! I’m still going! It’s now late in the afternoon and this is turning into an all day project when I had no idea it would be. I thought I could complete this task in three short hours, without a drop of sweat, wrong! I’ve spent the last 90 minutes folding shirts, yoga clothes, socks, undies and now I need to figure out where their new home will be in the drawers. I’ve used shoe boxes to place some of my items folded up and color coordinated them as well.
My closet will be only for shoes, hats, scarves and clothes that look like they need to be hung instead of folded.
As I glance around at the progress I have made, I pat myself on the back for being focused and sticking to it. But there’s more to do…
The Morning After
Good news is I did NOT spend all night finishing up my closet, however I did spend 9 hours yesterday cleaning it out and only keeping items that bring me joy.
There will be another posting on the rest of my house as I still have books, housewares and sentimental things I need to get rid of (it’s a f*cking process).
I hope this blog motivates you to check out this book and tidy up your life I’m a believer in if you create the space, new things (like a dream job, love, or business opportunities) will come your way.
