Throwing Out Fifty Things

26 Jul 2010 2 Comments

by Randye Kaye in happiness, positive psychology

I love summer. Love it, love it, love it.  Love wearing only shorts and a tank top, or a bathing suit and cover.  Adore flip-flops.  No jacket. Few layers (layers require too many decisions).  Mmmm.

July, though, has been so relentlessly hot and humid that I’ve felt stuck, unmotivated.   And so many clients seem to be on vacation…so. Today is cool and fresh – well, under 90 degrees at least.  I feel compelled to get unstuck, and clear the decks to make room for new possibility, new success. 

So – gonna throw out fifty things a la the book and website by Gail Blanke. Something that has held me back: indecision!  The root of all clutter.  Couldn’t decide whether to make the list online at the website (www.throwoutfiftythings.com), on my computer in the workbook she provides, or just in my journal, where I’ll talk more to myself and less to potential readers.

Or – oh, yeah – to blog about it.

So – the journal (woefully untouched since I got married last year and have an actual husband to talk to instead) wins, with an abbreviated version here.  I think.

Blanke says to go room by room, so today is for the bedroom. And – oh yeah – items of a kind (say, 17 pairs of worn underwear) count as ONE item.  So I can’t throw out 50 expired aspirin pills and call it a day. Sigh.

Bedroom tally:

1. (OK, I did this a few weeks ago): Gold jewelry I no longer wear.  I had kept it forever, because it was engraved.  Mostly a big charm bracelet, my class rings from HS and College, and some yellow gold necklaces.  This was a huge step for me.  My grandparents gave me some of those charms!  but – I will never wear it. My daughter will never wear it.  My grandparents live on in my heart, not on a bracelet. So I kissed the pieces goodbye at the jewelers, and walked out with a check for: $918! This will help pay for my daughter’s upcoming wedding. My grandparents are smiling somewhere.

Oh yeah – and also sold my old wedding ring.  I have a new one now…and was only using the old one as a stage prop while single and playing a married woman – or a nun.

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