Is it just me, or do any of the rest of you sometimes Wonder how you ended up with so much STUFF?!? Especially that 'Stuff' that ends up being Stored for far too long and not really used often, if ever, or even remembered until you begin a Great Edit & Purge in an attempt to Simplify Life!!!
Seasonal Items apparently were one of my last bastions of 'Specific Stuff' that I had held onto for far too long! Even though each Year we usually do a different Theme of Seasonal Decor for the Holidays so that it doesn't become boring or identical than previous Years... obviously I'd never Live long enough to really rotate this Hoard of Seasonal Lovelies that had accumulated over the Years in our Storage Cottage!!! *LOL*
I wouldn't ever have enough Children or Grandchildren to pass it all along to... and most of them wouldn't want it anyway... I'm sure they're finding that they're accumulating enough of their own 'Stuff' as Years go on!
And as I'm making trips back and forth to Charity Shops and my Showroom with the back of my Truck filled with the excess that we're letting go of during the Great Edit & Purge of 2012 in our efforts to Simplify our Lives, I'm just amazed at how much I'd forgotten about and Stored away in that Storage Cottage!
Yul has been like The Sentinel as we've Labored some days from Sunup to Sundown wading through boxes of 'Stuff' dragged out into the Sunlight, sometimes for the first time in over a decade! Some Cats really are Curious about everything you're doing and he's been right in the thick of it each day. Princess T even made him a little Cottage of his own out of emptied Banana Boxes, resplendant with Lace Drapes, Vintage Fabrics & Mardi Gras Bead decor so that he could languish in Style to observe the Process we've embarked upon so Enthusiastically! *LOL*
And Enthusiastic about this Process we have been, ALL of us. I'm finding that as we're busy Letting Go of 'Stuff' and not so focused upon buying this Holiday Season, we are already Simplifying so much more than we expected to & more quickly than anticipated! Time spent letting go of 'Stuff' has Magnified being able to spend more Time doing other things.
Getting to Enjoy more Quality Time Together doing things that have significance to us. Because not only is there less to take care of... but the profits from the Sales of excess 'Stuff' is funding more Activities that we Enjoy DOING.
We've spent even more Time Enjoying the Holiday preparations other people have so Generously Shared.
And because we've been intent on Simplifying... we're doing Less in the realm of Home Decor... but it doesn't mean we can't Enjoy More of the Season. I still Enjoy Decorating... but I don't feel the Desire to do quite as much as we used to... and that's Okay.
Plenty of others are still in the Season of Life where they're going All Out and Sharing the fruits of their Labor & Talent of Transforming everything into a Magical Holiday Wintery Wonderland. Making it possible for others to have all of the Joy and none of the Work. As I get Older I Appreciate that all the more now.
Because The Man and I spent many, many Years going All Out in everything we did... as did several of our Friends. And it was Fun during it's Season and Time... but we're finding with Age and Limitations that the Season is passing for us to do so much. Or at least now doing less than we used to and that has been Liberating too... the Process of Simplifying.
We still Enjoy Experiencing all of it as much as when we were doing it ourselves... but now observing more of it someplace else has it's perks. We're moving into the Season of Simplifying Life as we know it here at Home... so that we can have the Energy, Resources and Desire to Experience it elsewhere all the more.
Window Shopping has become even more Fun as we fully Intend to Practice and get into the Habit of just LOOKING and not BUYING so much... because in the Letting Go Process and as Life Simplifies bit by bit, I do find that you don't feel the need to have or get MORE!
I'm even beginning to contemplate, with the Savings of Simplifying and the Profits from Selling Off... what Travels we might Fund in the Future? And that's very Exciting for a Clan that revels in the Gypsy Wanderlust of hitting the Open Road and seeing where it takes you!?!
Blessings from the Arizona Desert... Dawn... The Bohemian