Clearing out

I have embarked on a three-year plan for clearing things out.

It wasn't originally intended to take three years, but it did not take very long to realize anything shorter would be unrealistic.

In this case the "how" is very individual, so I will talk about it but the "why" may be the part that is more applicable.

I had been thinking that for environmental and economic reasons one definite requirement for a better world is less materialism. There are the resources for people to be fed and clothed and comfortable, but not so much for the excess, where there is always more and more. Without strictly defining that, for it to work the mindset of always needing newer and shinier will not work.

Those thoughts had been in mind, but it hit harder when looking at footage of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. There were all of these mounds of possessions swept out by wind and water, and you couldn't even tell what they were anymore -- they were now garbage. That thought was not a reflection on anyone who owned the things; but a reminder that things are subject to destruction.

Other thoughts that have related are thinking about moving, and what a chore it would be, and watching a neighbor go through the contents of her late mother's home, and watching people needing to evacuate fires. Sometimes when you have some advance notice you can pack some things and save some things, but it is probably easier to focus if you have less.

Also, realistically, I have a lot of possessions now. I don't feel right just getting rid of them, but if I had never gotten them I would not have missed them.

I am not trying to promote a strict minimalist lifestyle, but I believe that greater consciousness about what we consume and what we keep will be really helpful.

In my case, a lot of the buildup has been in things that I am not ready to let go of yet: books, magazines, and embroidery kits. These are things that promised me some satisfaction at one time, and I believe that I can still get that enjoyment, but I haven't had it yet. I don't want to throw away the knowledge inside them, or the experience of working with them.

I am currently focusing more on the magazines, with some work on the books.

There was a time when I read magazines a lot; they weren't always piling up unread. Three that I enjoyed a lot and subscribed to were Smithsonian, Shape, and Psychology Today. Also, though it was more for the family and my mother, we had subscriptions to church magazines, the Ensign and Liahona. I have at this point discontinued all the subscriptions, because I can clearly no longer keep up, but the stacks remained.

The church magazines have become part of my gospel and Italian study, and there are sometimes parts of this blog that relate to that. They are working their way out - there are only three left after this morning - but the experiences have been good. I don't regret that they were saved, but I am also really satisfied to see them gone.

One additional issue with the more educational magazines was that sometimes I would read them but then save them, because someone would be interested in that, or I wanted to remember. I have gotten much stricter with myself. If I think someone else should see the article, I give it to them as soon as I am done. (It's usually Julie.)

It is also nice that I am not as worried about forgetting things. As I keep reading more science and history, things start to fit together. Maybe I had not thought about this random fact for a few years, but then when it pertains to something else I am reading it comes back to mind, "Oh yeah." And of course the internet makes finding things much easier when I can't quite remember. Now I can not only find that the experiment to have strangers fall in love was the work of Arthur Aron, but I can find the 36 questions used in the experiment on line.

(FYI, the experiment is really more about creating intimacy, but that is important for love, and developing those feelings of closeness can be intoxicating.)

Not everything has equal value. I ended up getting rid of a lot of the Shape issues without reading them. It was a well-written magazine, but it doesn't meet my needs anymore. I still maintain that it's better than Self, for what that's worth.

Not all of the books that I have had lying around for years have been great. Probably others will not be either, but some of them will be good, and they will still be done. Completing something is a wonderful feeling. I don't know that the long wait makes it better, but if there has been some frustration from seeing over and over again that something remains undone, completion vanquishes that.

In this way, it is becoming more conscious not just of my possessions and my surroundings, but also for how I use my time. This is something that I wanted. This is something that was important to me. It's slow, and if I had been staying on top of things all along it wouldn't have to be an issue, but it feels good.

You may not all have the same stacks of unread materials and uncompleted crafts (I did finish my Halloween basket!) -- for your sake, I hope you don't -- but there are probably some things that you don't need, where there is the opportunity to feel lighter. Doing it indiscriminately may lead to more problems, but proceeding thoughtfully can feel really good.

I expect that as I clear out this areas, the field will expand. We might be okay with less cookware. For example, I definitely need two stockpots, but we might not need so many loaf pans. Or maybe I should make more bread. I can think about that.

Mainly, I am a strong believer in thinking.