303: Cars and Paper and Other Overwhelmingly Messy Things Podcast Leave a comment
Today I was decluttering some old jewelry, and regretting that right now I have no way to get stuff to my local Goodwill to donate it. I have a “donate” box in my dining room which is kind of a huge clutter item that I’ve been walking around for weeks because I don’t have a car and I couldn’t get a friend to drive me there to do the donation.
Then it hit me — I AM NOT THE JUNK-WHISPERER! It is not my job to save things that *might* have a little bit of value left for somebody. My first responsibility is to my own household, and what MY household needs right now is the peace that comes from getting rid of stuff I no longer need or want.
If nobody ever got to have/use the stuff I’m letting go of… nobody would actually miss it! So I grabbed up all my courage, and just threw the stuff away.
It feels weird. But it feels liberating too. I’m used to seeing the value and potential in everything, and it does bother me to be letting “good stuff” go to waste. But…. really and truly, in my current situation, getting rid of it by ANY MEANS feels like throwing off the shackles that have tied me to my overwhelmingly out-of-control life!
From now on, for me, if I know someone specific that might actually need a thing I will certainly offer it to them. If I were the type of person who enjoyed selling stuff on Ebay or something, I would do that to things I thought were truly valuable. But being very honest, I know that my old stuff is worth maybe a dollar or so at Goodwill, and they are not hurting for lack of donations at the moment. The only reason not to throw it in the trash is pure pride, imagining that just because I once saw value in it that it must still hold value somehow. But now I know better. I don’t owe that junk any remorse. Even if it means throwing it straight in the trash, even if it still seemed “good enough for somebody else”, the main goal is just to GET MY FREEDOM FROM IT.
Thank you so much, Dana, for all your help in opening my eyes to the value of FREEDOM from clutter!
