Well today I started... Started what you may ask? Spring cleaning I would reply... Very long overdue - in some cases I have not touched some of the cupboards in the four years we have been here... It all began yesterday when I was lying in bed and I contemplated how overwhelmed I had felt in recent months - everything seemed 'just too much' to contend with - it all ended with me thinking that I felt so overwhelmed that I just couldn't breathe anymore... It was like something 'exploding' as the two thoughts collided. I felt overwhelmed and I felt I couldn't breathe because of it - very interesting. Somewhere in the dark recesses a light went on and I thought perhaps if I took control and straightened out those areas which I could then I would feel less overwhelmed and less constricted and I could breathe a little easier both literally and laterally. It was worth a try...
So today I started - well , really it was yesterday when I cleaned out the pantry cupboard - I cleared shelf by shelf, checking for use by dates, wiping over shelves and rearranging things. I felt like I had accomplished something when I had finished and that I had taken a stand. Today I attacked our bedroom - taking down the curtains and leaving the windows bare except for the pull down blinds. I vacumed and damp dusted plus rerranged two bookshelves (no mean feat if you saw them!!!). Nothing was left unturned - except for the wardrobes which need a 'clearing' all of their own. I have started an op-shop box out in the hall and I suspect by the end of a couple of rooms it will be chock a block full. The need to 'off load' is tremendous - possessions I have held onto for a lifetime it seems no longer hold the same value they once did. I hope to go through the entire house cleaning and sorting as I go - this may take a few weeks but then again it has taken a few years to get to this stage. I am long overdue for a change...
Which brings me to the name change of my blog. When I began blogging I felt like I had a 'blank page' then as I progressed I 'added a few scribbles' - now I feel like it is just a page among many which is about an ordinary life. That is to say I m not demeaning myself by suggesting that my life isn't valuable, but perhaps more that I recognise my life is as it is - and in some senses that means more to me. That probably doesn't make much sense - but think about your own life - how would you like to be thought about or what do you think about your life. How do you see yourself??? What role do you see yourself as having???? I am getting deep here aren't I. But of the last little while, culminating with what I thought about yesterday is a sense of 'getting things in order'. There is definetely a death/birth cycle going on for me here. And so perhaps it was fitting when I read Dawn's blog that she had accompaining her photos the following:
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; Ecclesiates 3:1-2
And so I too, will go with 'the flow' and see what happens...
2 comments:
I feel a bit like that female from "Single White Female" - copying you. Reading your blog has given me a sense of deja vu ... just moving out of a not-fantastic living situation has seen me clear out 'baggage' from my life - and feels like I'm finally making a clean start in Melbourne - after just over 2 years I feel a bit more 'settled'. I've also been doing the same thing in trying to work out a blog name that means more to me ... Stitching Shack was just something I thought of 'spur of the moment' when I first joined up, with no real thought behind it. Perhaps moving to Elwood it should be "Stitching by the Sea" or "Stitching by the Canal" ... but I'm crazy about ducks, and would really love to include a bit of a ducky theme ... "On the Pond" maybe haha - never mind, something will come to light eventually. Oh heck, just had a call from work, asking us to go in early due to the Bali bombings - sorry, I would like to have written more ... but have to dash to quickly answer a couple of posts on my blog before I go...
Your comments about throwing out accumulated things that you don't need/want anymore reminded me of January 2003. Following the devastating bushfires in Canberra we had several days of high alert when, with the right weather conditions, we may have had to leave our home. We live on the north west 'corner' of Canberra so the big fires missed us, although small fires came quite close. However, as we were packing the cars in case we had to leave, we got to thinking of how much stuff we have and whilst we didn't really want to lose it, if the house burned down we wouldn't replace it. Like many people, when they are actually given time to prepare for such an emergency, I did pack lots of photos and documents, and realised that just about everything else was replaceable, if we wanted to. I did pack into the car my 38 year old sewing machine and my daughter's quilt consisting of 1216 triangles. She had just finished piecing it and I couldn't bear the thought of all that work going up in smoke.
Anyway, Sharon, I hope you will feel much better when you have uncluttered both your house and your life, if that's what you need.
Cheers for now.
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