Just when I thought I’d uncluttered all I could, I saw my office supply closet with new eyes. I pulled out 6 old keyboards, 4 trackball mice, 20 lbs of manuals for software I haven’t had for ten years, packing boxes for every electronic device I’ve bought probably ever, miles of computer cable, microphones, headsets, chargers, routers, 10 key adding machine, cassette tape player/recorder, dozens of envelopes to mail out cassette tapes and a dozen small boxes. I moved these all out of the supply closet which left me with a lot more room and another big stack to go through in the living room to recycle or discard. I have a habit of saving old equipment after it’s been replaced “in case something happens and I need to go back to it.” I’ve never had to go back to it. Since it’s older and there’s so much new technology, it’s not like any of my friends want it, either. They have their own closets full of their own outdated equipment. I realize now that hanging on to stuff even though I’ve replaced it is a way for me to bridge the gap between what I know and what I’m learning. Between the old me and the new me in the making. My myth, my safety net is telling myself that, “well if I can’t do ___, then I can go back to my old way of doing things,” even if it’s a longer and harder road. Upon reflection, I realize I’ve done that in my spiritual life as well, hanging on to old beliefs as a safety net ( in case my “new” beliefs didn’t pan out ) until I found my place firmly in my new, wider, more expanded territory. My old stuff, my old issues were familiar and unconsciously I felt comforted by them. That’s why some have taken so long to drop and are still dropping. Every year I uncover another layer of the personality I know as me, and see more of the deeper Me, the essential Me, my SoulSelf within.
RELATED: We have to let go of what’s killing us, even if it kills us to let go
Links to other stuff I’ve written on My Uncluttering Adventures