Float Like a Butterfly

 Boxing Day is the day after Christmas; the day when aristocrats would box up their leftovers and extras to give to the servants. A day to clear out things no longer needed to donate to those less fortunate. A day to give to the poor.

I've always liked that concept: both the giving to those less fortunate and clearing out things no longer needed. I'm a bit of a minimalist- I like having the basic comforts and necessary items for my interests and hobbies but not a whole lot more. I get overwhelmed by clutter- it distracts me and I find I'm unproductive in a cluttered environment. So I regularly pare down and purge, not just on Boxing Day.

Not so with the rest of my family. I am related to a lot of hoarders. My mother was a shopaholic who bought multiples of everything and then could not find where she had put thing, so she bought even more of the same. My Dad could never throw anything away. Sweatshirts with 10 holes in them, jeans with paint stains, obsolete technology, expired food- my Dad wanted to keep all of it. My brothers take after my Dad. My sisters in law are like my Mom. I'm definitely outnumbered in my quest for an orderly environment. 

But on Boxing Day 2021, the whole family gathered to clear things out. 

It was the first Christmas we've had without Mom. But her mountain of stuff still dominates the house. The day after Christmas, we picked on room- the bathroom- to purge of all the unneeded stuff. Drawers filled with expired face cream, broken combs and brushes, clumpy and congealed make up got thrown away. The 6 blow dryers got distributed to the grand-daughters, my sister in law, and a friend who had just mentioned she needed a hair dryer. The shampoo was pared down, the toothbrush thrown away, the perfumes divided up to whomever fancied that particular scent. After years of being a cluttered, chaotic disaster zone, the bathroom was finally - FINALLY - functional, tidy, clean, and serene. 

It was incredibly sad.

My own home has been so very less than tidy for the past several months. You'd think that since I spent so little time here that it didn't have time to get messy. You'd be wrong. My apartment has been like a dressing room where I run in, change my costume, and then run back out for my next scene. I've had bags that need to be unpacked, piles that need to be gone through, laundry that needs to be put away, recycling that need to be recycled, and projects that need to be finished lying around for weeks. I haven't been around to attend to them. And then I was just too tired.

Which brings me to Thing #3: paring down. I've done 30 day challenges in the past to get rid of one thing a day for a month. This time I'm going bigger. One thing a day for the year. Something that needs to be thrown out, recycled, repurposed, re-gifted, donated, or just put out of its misery until I get to 365. I've paired down before, in preparation for big moves or thru-hikes: massive purges in a short time. This time, I'm doing baby steps for a longer period. Taking a year to clear the distractions so I can move on to the next thing.