A few years ago, I became interested in minimalism as a concept. Lost in a sea of kids’ toys and art projects, trying to teach high schoolers via zoom (ugh, Dante’s next circle of hell during Covid Classrooms), it really was just too much.
While there are numerous, fantastic individuals to learn from, my go-tos have become Joshua Becker and Dawn the Minimal Mom. I connected so deeply to their desires and ideas but was specifically impacted at first by two. To summarize: 1 Physical stuff can get in the way of relationships and leading the purposeful lives we want and 2- often we are not just unorganized, lazy people but simply have too much inventory to manage.
I’ve continued to slowly apply those principles and ideas, so when I feel a little overwhelmed (or let’s be honest, my arm is cramping from typing), I’ve started going through physical spaces again. Today I learned that, apparently, for the last 6 years I had a sewing kit in my husband’s work desk. Yeah, who knew? See that little, tiny one in the picture? The broken, red, taped college kit? The one we got for our daughter? Oh yeah, that’s the one I’ve been using (ahem borrowing). Apparently, I can handle most sewing needs with a kit the size of my thumb.
Writing this year with additional purpose and focus, and not having to squeeze it in at 4 am before I jump into the school day, has unearthed so much non-writing stuff.
Years ago, I had a counselor who used a great metaphor about life — she said, “When we go through significant moments or years, it’s like we move houses. We unbox and deal with the things we really need, and the other ones stay on the shelf. Then sometime later in life, we have to deal with that box—either because we are cleaning up or we are needing to find it.” In this particular instance, she encouraged us to take down one box at a time and sort through all the things.
I thought that was what this year would look like. Except, no. Just no. Some fairies or leprechaun or toddler climbed up the shelves and threw all the boxes on the floor. There are more boxes to sort through than I realized. Not all bad or good ones, just more.
But as so many friends and students have mentioned, we want problems solved. We don’t want to just find the things and reorganize the box. We want to get rid of the boxes. To remove all the unnecessary things from life and inventory so we can focus on the remaining boxes that hold the most important things.
So, the good news is I found the sewing kit. The better news is I now know I don’t even need it. I can pass that right along and stay with the one that is about the size of my thumb. I have space for that.
Don’t be afraid this week to let something go, physically or emotionally. You may find you never needed it in the first place.
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