Day 177: I've Been Sorting Through More Than Closets

I've been going through everything in my condo the last few days, deciding what I want to take from here to the motorhome to make it homey.

What I've found is that there is a lot of stuff that's been packed away in boxes, or in cabinets and drawers, where it hasn't seen the light of day in more than a decade.

And you know me, my mind went immediately to asking myself, how much of this is also happening with what's been going on with my thoughts for the last decade?

How many thoughts, beliefs, habits, routines have been immune from scrutiny because they have been in a metaphorical cabinet, or storage bin, so they haven't been challenged in a decade or more?

I have been digging deeper than normal to give away more clothes, shoes, jewelry, than I normally do several times a year.

Going deeper to give away things that were personally meaningful to me, but no longer have a place in my life.

It makes me wonder why some things have gotten a pass for years, while others went to someone else without a second thought.

When I was going through my dresses, which I rarely have a reason to wear, I was surprised to find two that still had the tags on.

I remember when I went online and bought a bunch of dresses because it was so hot in the summer, if I had to go anywhere, I didn't want to have to wear shorts and a top.

I thought dresses would be cooler.

That was 2018. Yes, 8 years ago.

Why did I leave these dresses hanging there, not donated, for 8 years of never wearing them?

Was my mind unable to comprehend that I thought I'd wear something and then summer after summer, I didn't?

And how often do we do our best to convince ourselves that our thoughts, beliefs and habits, will also be necessary at some point, so we can't possibly dismiss them?

It's kind of mind-boggling to see physical evidence of how we trick ourselves in the form of clothes with the tags still on after 8 years.

And to make sure I didn't question the purchase or keeping them, because you never know, I might change my mind, I put them in a secondary closet I rarely look in.

Do we do the same thing with our thoughts?

Absolutely we do.

And yet in both situations, our choices are safe from being discovered as long as we don't mind becoming hoarders who also don't question the validity and usefulness of things and thoughts/beliefs/habits.

Maybe that's one of the greatest gifts of any major life transition.

It forces us to open the boxes. Not just the ones in our closets. The ones in our minds.

A move.

A divorce.

Cancer.

Retirement.

The loss of someone we love.

A new beginning.

These seasons ask us to look at everything again.

Not because we've done anything wrong.

But because the person who packed those boxes isn't the same person opening them today.

Some things still fit beautifully.

Others no longer reflect who we've become.

The interesting thing is that thoughts can hang around just as long as unworn dresses.

"I've always been this way."

"I'm not good at that."

"I could never..."

"I don't deserve..."

They can sit quietly in the back of our minds for years, rarely questioned simply because they've become familiar.

Until one day life asks us to clean house.

Not because we're losing something, but because we're making room for who we're becoming.

I've realized that letting go isn't really about having less. It's about creating space.

Space for new experiences.

New ideas, new beliefs.

A new version of ourselves.

Maybe that's why this has felt so much bigger than moving furniture.

I've been sorting through far more than closets.

I've been sorting through me.

Today's Gentle Practice

Choose one thing today that you've kept for a long time.

It could be something in your closet.

A habit.

A routine.

A belief about yourself.

Before you automatically keep it, pause and ask:

"If this came into my life today, would I choose it again?"

If the answer is yes, appreciate why it still belongs.

If the answer is no, simply notice that.

Sometimes the greatest gift of a new season is that it gives us permission to look at old things with new eyes

Whether it's something on a shelf or a belief in your mind, making space is often the first step toward something new.

With you,

Lynn