I recently downsized. Not in just ONE area of my life... In ALL of them.
I downsized my dwelling.
I downsized my belongings.
I downsized my calendar....
Heck...I even downsized my closet... (Lord knows we really don't need that many pair of
jeans and Lord knows which ones are your favorites)... and really how many
earrings do you need? Be honest... Just the few old faithfuls.
WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE- I down sized my possesions that required too much upkeep. In fact
-IF you think about it.... take that word upkeep and rearrange it is actually "KEEP UP"... Mercy ... I couldn't KEEP UP.... MY STUFF was requiring too much of ME... Too much of my time... too much of my money and too much of my peace of mind. Just couldn't keep UP.... MY FRIENDS...ALL My STUFF was stealing some of MY JOY. The more STUFF I had the MORE time, energy and resources it took for me to maintain all that STUFF... and reallyyy... the majority of what I had before the BIG MOVE... was STUFF.
THE PROCESS OF THE PURGE– At first it hurt …to LET GO.... Letting go of the house that I built from the ground up.... (which that part was I suppose understandable...more of an adjustment "mourning" phase) ....HOWEVER not being able to let go of more easily all of those extra jeans that I thought I would wear "ONE DAY".... that was kinda sick and twisted... what was I doing hanging on to all of those jeans???.... I realized that maybe being on my own
for so many years had put me in mental state of "hanging on" to stuff --for some kind of like false security or something...uh-oh- we had TO CHANGE THAT. :)
THE TRANSITION - As I continued to downsize- at first I felt a bit empty … I mean....Peopleeee.... I was attached to my… stuff…Big house that I really didn't want or ahhh NEED ... that I thought I had to build to impress the world... Yep ... .really .... My too big for my britches mortgage that I am still praying for ... oops ... paying for... welll really BOTH. Really.... I was attached to an IMAGE of what I "thought" earthly success was... and some of that WAS un-healthy.... By all means if you live in a BIG house and can afford it -more power to you- IF you have the time and energy to keep it up... As a single woman I personally never felt like I could Keep UP.... I just had to much space and not enough grace.... and it was starting to become a point of frustration.... I realized that cleaning my BIG House was actually keeping me distracted -just enough that I came to avoid some issues that were pressing down
on me....Let me tell ya.... TODAY... Livin within my means... well... ya better
bet.... I pay attention to things and/or stuff that distracts me from my purpose and or steals my joy or peace... and...TODAY.... I sure have a closer more intimate relationship with my DEAR friends Maturity and Security.
THE DAY OF THE MOVE.... When I moved from the Big House to the Sanctuary I had one box filled w possesions that I cherished – Example a prayer book my daughter made for me- my bibles- letters and cards from my loved ones and a few photographs.(- I transferred that box myself b/c I didn't want anything to happen to it-) Realllyyy alll of the things that were precious to me ended up being in one moving box. whattt? There was something humbling about that... Maybe I wasn't as attached to everything as I had initially thought. ???
I felt almost like Christ was nodding at me ... saying... "See that wasn't so hard".... I even thought a bit deeper - how people back in the day - in tents- in the deserts -and moved frequently... what? they lived so much simpler. Oh how we complicate stuff... I felt good about the progress I had made purging. I felt at peace ...
The weird thing about all of this purging experince was It was a major eye opener for me... Having so much stuff and space meant maintenancing so much stuff and space. NOW.... One word -Freedom.
Wont YOU Get on the downsizing revolution w me???... For Pete's sake... This is what I should have done from the start ... my friends.... Less is more. Less IS SO THE NEW MORE
Downsize
Slim down
Cut back
Scale back
Economize
Spend less
YOUR LIFE will become more profitable. AT least Mine did.