Dealing with Small Things
By: Joanne Reid
Tags: Mindfulness, Minimalism, Letting Go, Cleaning, Life Lessons

Dealing with Small Things

Facing a hoarding challenge

Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

Everyone has a junk drawer. Don’t they?

I have been so pleased with myself for dealing with my latent hoarding tendencies. It wasn’t ideal but I stopped buying stuff and I donated a lot of stuff. I rearranged my surroundings.

I was doing so well. Things were easy to find. There was more space. Ah yes, girl, you’re doing so well. Then two disparate things happened the same day. One was the all access pass to Masterclass was about to expire. What? I thought it had expired.

When I tried to sign in last winter, I had an account but there was no all access pass. I took a closer look and saw that I had indeed signed up for the all access pass almost a year ago using my very private email. It was so private I barely used it.

I logged in under that account and lo and behold, there were all the fabulous courses I wanted so badly I forked out $180 (USD) for them. I began taking the courses that had motivated me to sign up in the first place. I am reaping the benefits in a binge like situation while the binging is available.

These are amazing insights and advice and voices and I am enjoying every single one of them. I speculated about renewing the all access pass for another year. Then I stopped to wonder why? Did I want to listen to the lectures in reruns? I had taken the notes I wanted and needed and downloaded the downloadables.

No. That was not why I wanted to renew. I wanted to keep these on hand in case someday…. Someday what?

The other thing that happened is that I found a shoebox under my bed. What was that single solitary box doing there with the dust bunnies?

Turns out it was full of small items for which I have no use. Confirmation candles is one example. First of all, I didn’t know what they were. I’m not Roman Catholic and have no experience of confirmation candles. I still am not sure of how they are used. Second of all, why did I put them in a box with assorted other small things?

It turns out that I wanted to keep these on hand in case someday…. Someday what?

I am not going to digress into talking about the nine gmail accounts I have or the seven domain names I just released into the wild. I am not going to beat myself up over the clutter of tiny things I give storage room to because someday I might need them.

I am going to let go of waiting for someday which means I will be letting go of Masterclass when this subscription ends and I will be letting go of these assorted collections of heaven only know what. I am sure I do not need 101 extra pencils or my pack of Tarot cards that is missing three cards.

I might even be able to get by without the assortment of those freezer bags with the easy zip closure that have hardly been used. I do use one to keep my index cards in along with a favorite pen but it looks sturdy enough to last another five years. So out go the several dozen dusty ones I had stashed away in that shoe box and, as it turns out, several other pretty boxes.

I have written about and talked about letting go for years and feel like I have been a closet hoarder the whole time. If I stacked up every container with unnecessary contents, it would not take up more than one cubic yard of space. But there are so many items and so many decisions involved with each item, letting go is an incredible freedom.

An example. A long time ago, I had a roommate (I was going to say a roommate from hell, but he’s dead now and being mean about him is senseless). One tiny item is a box that once held a commemorative coin he gave me. It now holds the note that accompanied the coin.

The coin was stolen by another roommate, also from hell (she’s still alive someplace I am sure). So all that is left is the note in this small black box. Do I need to be reminded of either of these roommates?

No.

I probably don’t need the cheap anklet that broke the first time I tried to snap it shut around my then-swollen ankle. Or the single cheap earring I found on the living room floor. It never belonged to me. Or, it seems, to any of my visitors.

Neither do I need the 5 1/4 floppy disks I found or the cords to long-gone electrical appliances.

My life has been spent waiting for the elusive some day. I am so relieved that day is here and I can let all these things go.