Houndheart

Well, on a thread I posted about switching up liquor stores some of us started to digress into another topic: Clutter and cleansing. It seems that as I am getting more clear in these early days of my sobriety (one month) that I am starting to clear out "stuff" that I have accumluated. As I explained my mom, dad, uncle, and friend all died a few years ago...and I had been drinking ever since, as my "healthy" method of self medicating (NOT!). I also grabbed a bunch of their things in an attempt to hold on to all of the ones that I loved that were leaving me. So in addition to just having a lot of my own stuff I now have a lot of theirs. I have a small home with a lot of things cluttering it. Things are stored, under here, behind this, over there...and it is just not feeling so comfortable like that now in here.

I woke up the other day, and was feeling the need to start weeding things out, and to give things to the Homeless Shelter, so that it goes to folks that can use these things that I am not using.

I see from that last thread that apparently a lot of folks can relate to this new "Cleansing" and organizing of one's home after becoming sober. I felt unclear in my mind, and think that my surroundings became a reflection of that.

And now that my head is becoming clearer, I want my living space to be clear also. To give myself room to breath, and to feel like I can be creative again. I find it hard to want to create, when there is too much here already.

Anyone else relate to any of this? Finding yourself wanting to clean out your house after gaining your sobriety?

And also, how do you let go, when there is too much stuff... Especially if it is sentimental? A lot of things are handmade by my parents and uncle (they were artists and artisans in their spare time). I want to clear out, but I am also having problems letting go of a lot of it. I guess this is a two part question, and am interested in hearing about either or both. Thanks.