I Am Not My Stuff

Some rights reserved by sindesignStuff is distracting. Getting rid of it makes me realize this.

I’m still engaged in my Chuck My Stuff plan that I told you all about months ago. I am at the phase now – um, what do you call it – oh yeah, The Get a Huge Freaking Garbage Bag and Walk Around the House Shoving Things In Phase. I’ll either throw the bag at the curb or maybe donate it. I’m at the point that I don’t even care anymore.

Stuff strangles me. We have been tricked into believing in a consumer-centric society that we are what we own. If that’s true, I’m a dog-blood-stained couch, a bunch of broken toys, a slew of half-dead plants, and a smelly diaper pail.

I am NOT my stuff.

No, I’m much greater than what I own, but tell the Stuff I own that. IT ALL thinks it runs the house, constantly bathing itself in dog hair, pulling dust to it with a magnetic grace only Stuff can boast. Stuff is greedy for my attention. It never stays where I put it. And it is a weak ball of emotions, breaking/tearing/falling apart at the slightest provocation or angry look from me.

I’m tired of catering to Stuff. Stuff can kiss my ass.

So. Here it goes, in a giddy foray, getting chucked into huge black garbage bags like so many dead bodies. Die, weird button-eye doll that scares the bejesus out of me. Die, old sesame crackers that no one likes but no one wants to throw away because we don’t want to waste food. Die, debilitated palm tree I thought I could resurrect but realized finally that it had given up, and so too should I.

Here goes Stuff, getting dragged from my house with its toenails scraping on the way out. Strangely, after dragging black bag after black bag out through the garage, I still feel overwhelmed by it all. Is it breeding in dark corners? Is someone stealthily putting it back faster than I can take it out? Am I simply… *gulp*… buying MORE faster than I can throw it away?

Wow.

It’s gotten to the point that I hate Wal-Mart. And, you know, it’s not really Wal-Mart’s fault. It’s my own fault for not remembering how terrible it feels to burden my physical space – and, more importantly, my mental space – with all of this crap that I think my family needs. Now, more than ever, I need clear thinking.

Being surrounded by more and more is not the way to gain clarity. It’s truly the way to insanity.

And so the transformation continues…

Renaissance Housewife is a thirty something housewife and mom of four who, after the death of her mother, realizes we all only have so many days left to make our dreams reality. She writes about following her own dreams and also inspires others to take risks, live fearlessly, and maximize every day left on this earth.

Comments

[James Dugan]

I am with you on this one and I love your passion for cleansing. I was just in a conversation the past couple of lunches about cleaning, and how this person spends a day, if she is luck to get one alone, cleaning. I thought she was crazy. But it makes her happy.

Cleaning is a chore. I do it on Saturday mornings first thing. I hope to throw things out also in the next couple of months. I just hope I remember your courage and your good advice.

I love the line "Stuff Can Kiss My Ass" -- You need to make a t-shirt with this.

Thanks for the lunch and joining us. I look forward to your next post.

[Lady Godiva]

It is that time of year. The perfect time for "spring" cleaning and I get into the frenzy myself some years and others just "plan" to do it. I'm off for a whole week in the Spring and there's no good reason not to cleanse; however, even though I do it fairly regularly, I either don't do it well enough, or as you suggest, keep buying. And I loved the line about the sesame crackers! It's so true. I have so much non-perishable food that will most likely never get eaten, but it was on sale or there was an impending storm or whatever, so here I am.

Thank God Spring break is not that far off.