Weasel1966

I have things in boxes from when I moved nearly 5 years ago.

Some I want, yet I never see or use.

Some I want to get rid of. I have since found a replacement.

And yet others I know its just time to let go. Stop carrying it from home to home in hopes it will still be useful. As useful at the time in my life as when it first brought me joy.

I am going through a process right now. I am taking everything out of every box. Out of every corner of my home. Examining it.

The emotional bonds I have to some things. The way I can be transported back to a different life. The immediate contrast I feel to my present. It's quite the process. A needed one right now.

My maturity is allowing me to see things with a new eye. My addictions are the prism now. Splitting light differently than before. But still colorful and brilliant if I let it.

It's NOT what I take out of my many boxes. It's what I chose to put back in that matters most. What will I blow the dust off and make new again? What will I choose to want and go searching for a newer version?

I don't want a lot of things. I keep it simple. Or simpler. But I do want to take my time with the packing. Find ways to enjoy rather than tuck away in the dark. Have just enough so I am complete and not so much excess that I need to choose. I guess just a balance of sorts.

If you had to take everything out of your box and start a new. What would you want to keep? Replace? Seek out? I like what I am finding when I asked myself those questions.

Nonsensical

Brilliant.

Weasel1966

Thanks non.... It's a true statement. The way I see it all now is so different. Addiction won't hold me back from the beauty of life. It just adjusts the way I see it.



Gotta stay positive always!

flujays

Wonderful post. I too had a box, just one though, it was very large, a blanket box actually and it was filled with what I now know were items that were holding me back, holding me in grief for many years. Gradually, bit by bit I let pieces of it go. It took me about 7 years to completely empty it. It's contents were toxic. That was my experience and I'm glad to be rid of it. I even got rid of the empty box in the end. It was broken anyways.

Jeni26

I recently found a box I kept little momentos in, old letters from friends, lovers, home-made Christmas cards and Mother's Day cards from my children, a letter I wrote my unborn baby after I had a miscarriage, a letter from my much loved and sadly missed Grandmother congratulating me on passing my exams at school.....

It was like I'd put everything in there that I should have had feelings about at the time but was too numb to face.

I took them out one by one, and really looked at them as though for the first time. Memories came flooding back. Emotions hit me, and I felt real loss for the first time since I've been sober.

I have locked everything away for the longest time. But now, it is ok to feel pain, to feel joy, to feel what I need to.

I sat for a long time looking at these treasures and allowing myself those emotions, and then I carefully put them back to keep forever xxx

Weasel1966

Jeni.... That is so sweet. I have a few things like that. Very special things I keep hidden.

You sound good.... Hope all is well.

K

Jeni26

All good here Ken.
Love your posts. You sound great too.

Jen xxx

Coldfusion

This is a real problem for me...

And here is the solution...

I've posted this in my den, where I have a bit of a hoarding problem going on. Thanks!

mecanix

Who'd have thought there could be such liberation in giving something up ?

Are some of the boxes metaphorical ?

I wonder what will happen next ....

Bestwishes, M

trachemys

Y'know, I'm going through the same thing except my boxes were packed over ten years ago. I've found stuff I forget long ago. Loved finding my blender...Smoothies, not margaritas. Been giving goodwill boxes of stuff.

Weasel1966

m... Yes there are many more metaphorical boxes I am working with than real but its a mix of both. I took tomorrow off from work to do some sorting. In both ways. A day home alone looking through things and getting rid of a lot. I want to skinny down my life.

T.... I love my blender. Never was a margarita guy. Good luck getting through all that stuff. Stay strong as you peel back the layers.

K

Change4Better

This is an awesome post. I tend to hoard items and thoughts, and I need to learn how to let go of some of both of those that hurt rather than help my growth, or maybe just are in the way of my dream of making one of my rooms a reading room. :-) I am not perfection itself, this is a process, but I find that not binge drinking on the weekends leaves me a lot of time to read again, what a treat!

FreeFall

Fantastic post Ken! I've been doing the same thing, slowly but surely sorting and organizing and choosing what to keep and what to discard. I remember reading Simple Abundance years ago and would highly recommend it to anyone trying to start fresh and make sense of their memory boxes. The author has a wonderful way of helping you to let go of things, and clarify what's important to you.

I realized when I did this before that I was holding on to so many things for "when I had children" and when light finally dawned that that day was not going to come it was liberating and sad at the same time to donate the items to someone who would use them. We often hold on to things that belong to old dreams and forget to add things that match our new ones.

Weasel1966

Very well said FF. nice.

I have tomorrow off for this task to begin. I will have a cup of tea. A cat or two laying on things or tugging at the box tops. And flesh out the good of it all as best I can.

Weasel1966

Good morning! Have the day off today to sort through stuff. I will want to say hello to you all later. Dont want the past to creep up on me. I wont let it. This is all about today and tomorrow not what was.

K

sandgirl

"I realized when I did this before that I was holding on to so many things for "when I had children" and when light finally dawned that that day was not going to come it was liberating and sad at the same time to donate the items to someone who would use them. "

Well done free fall-thats the hardest thing.x