Things can become so wonderful if you gradually peel back the layers!

There’s no doubt that a lot of emotion is involved with our ‘stuff’. The Minimalists’ have a book titled ‘Love People, Use Things: Because the Opposite Never Works’. (I admit I haven’t read that one yet 🫢 but I do plan to)

Almost everyone loves people, but it’s true that many of us tend to overvalue stuff, or be too attached to it.

As I continue with what I’m now flat out calling my “Decluttering Journey”, I can see my own attachments more clearly.

Of course when you remove the things that didn’t mean that much in the greater scheme of your life, then you will be left with the items that are more useful and/or more loved. Naturally, that’s going to shine a light on your feelings about them.

It points me towards why it took more than half a decade of various waves of working on it in order to get this far. Getting on top of the collection I’d created in just a five-year period in the mid 2010s, has been a long-term project.

A bit like getting my university degree or writing my novels. Those as well were long and complicated projects with various emotions attached to them. They’re achievements that reflect certain parts of my life, ways of thinking, and dreams I had for my life (with respect to the degree). Authoring is still active, of course.

Back to decluttering, though. There are people who read a book, or watch something on YouTube, and just stand up and say, ‘It’s all going.’ And they just declutter the heck out of everything in a brief space of time.

I’m not saying that’s not okay. If they’re confident about what they’re doing, then it’s more than okay. Bravo!

But I think it’s more common to need time.

The reason for that has become clear to me now that I’m getting so close to a set point at which I think I could just live well. ✨

{Just to explain ‘set point’ to you:  In paring down, decluttering or whatever you like to call it, you will reach a point at which you feel comfortable that what you have is what you need and love, but not more. That would be your ‘set point’. After that, you need to make sensible decisions about what else comes in (or your stuff will get on top of you again), and you’ll probably still have smaller decluttering sessions now and then just to keep things in order. But when you reach a set point, you’ve ultimately achieved the big goal. 🤗}

So, by easing closer now to my personal set point, it’s become clear that working in waves or spurts (whether it’s regular yearly, monthly, weekly, or even a bit every day), gives people time to deepen their understanding of what they’re doing and why. Through that, I think we come to gradual conclusions. Items we would have considered so important to keep on earlier declutters can look very different on later ones.

I used to paint. Oil mainly, though for practical reasons I had to switch to acrylic at one point. But, like everyone else, I only have so much time, and my writing took over that time. I wasn’t unhappy with that, of course! I accepted I was done painting, yet I didn’t immediately feel like I could get rid of my art supplies.

What if I “found” more time? Plus, some of my identity had been tied to painting, I guess.

However, when I realised I really would move in the next year, I started a layered approach to decluttering my entire studio. 

First went the obvious stuff…the rubbish that had built up in what I thought was a forever space.

Then went extras and items I didn’t think I would use even if I returned to painting. So I still holding onto that possibility that I could go back to it…

Then, the house was put up for sale. I made a big decision. I sold off my acrylic supplies and extra canvases. It was a relief.

Then the large easel went. That was a big move. She’d been good to me, and I was definitely attached to her. I’d created a lot of pictures as she cradled my stretched canvases. But she’s gone. More relief.

It felt good. One of my reasons for paring down is the understanding and acceptance that I don’t know what the future will bring. So, the more ‘large’ items I get rid of, the easier it will be if the worst happens and I have to move again.

Now, here I am in my new little home. It was time to accept that it was so unlikely I would take up oil painting again, and that if I did, my paints probably would have dried out by then! Why waste them?!

So off they went to a sweet lady who has just now taken up painting. Now I can think of her getting a ton of use - and I hope joy - out of creating with them. 💗

When I look back at my journey over these years, I occasionally catch myself thinking that it would have been so much easier and quicker if I’d just accepted from the start that I didn’t need all this stuff. Shoulda. Woulda. Coulda. If only.

It is true. It would have been quicker and easier.

But what I’m saying is that life isn’t always like that. As human beings, with emotions and attachments, we are not always able. Realising that is freeing in itself.

So instead of grumbling about not being a person who could just get it done in one fell swoop, like a scissor snip, I’m allowing myself to be grateful.

I’m grateful I didn’t give up partway through the journey.

And I want you to know that if you have trouble letting go, it’s not an abnormal thing. The main thing is to keep chipping away at it, as you would with any extensive project.

If you do, and you celebrate the little wins along the way, you can achieve it. 💖

Thanks for reading, lovelies.

Morgan x 💝

P.S. Since I last posted I’ve zeroed my inbox, sold some large pieces of furniture, done two or three trips to the op shop, and a boot and backseat load to the dump. ✅