I am a person who loves organization, and feels most zen when things are orderly and planned out and neat. This may be my preference, but right now my life seems rife with clutter and disorganization.
It’s been six months since I moved into my apartment, and it’s just now starting to feel like home. Maybe that’s because I’ve finally accepted it AS my home. For the last couple of months, a friend and I had been planning on moving into a house together this summer, so I didn’t bother getting too comfy where I’m at. But our plans fell through, leaving me to realize that where I am living is where I’m going to be, at least for another six months to a year, and that I needed to start treating the place as such.
Yesterday, I got home from work and went to get my mail, as I always do in the evenings. The mailboxes for my apartment complex are located in the main leasing office, and to get there from my unit I have to walk along a path and cross a foot bridge over a small stream that cuts the property in half. On this particular evening, it was sunny after a morning of rain, and as I crossed the bridge I took a deep breath of the fresh air and felt very comfortable and content, and glad to be home. It was the first time I’d really felt that happy to be there.
Last winter, when I packed my things to move, there wasn’t a lot of time for going through my belongings or to throw away unnecessary items. As a result, I moved a lot of junk to my new place. And once there, I only had a few days to unpack before I had to go back to work, and I was trying to make the place as comfortable for myself as possible before I had to resume a daily routine. So again, I didn’t really sort through anything, but instead tossed a lot of items I didn’t really have any use for into a cupboard or closet because at least it was put away and my place gave the appearance of being neat. But now that I’ve determined that I’m not leaving anytime soon, it’s time to go through those cupboards and closets and clear the clutter.
Last night I began the purge. I’ve decided that in order to keep the project from feeling completely overwhelming, I’ll tackle one space at a time. Last night I focused on one of the cabinets in my office, and quickly filled a trash bag with things that I absolutely do not need. When I hauled the bag downstairs and deposited it in the dumpster, I felt relieved, as if that was one less bag of stuff taking up much-needed space in my little apartment.
I want to have as little as possible. I don’t want to have loads of stuff just because I once liked it or because it was a present. I want less. I want smaller, more compact, more easy to manage. Maybe having more is widely accepted as a status symbol, as a sign of affluence and success. But to me it is scary. I want my little world to be as easy-to-manage as I can make it.
So marks the beginning of my journey to becoming a minimalist. I’m hoping that along the way I’ll achieve greater peace of mind and greater closet space.