The month of June arrived and the first half of the month was focused on the wedding of our dear daughter. Some time was spent organizing our garage to make temporary room for wedding gifts, but my objective of disposing of things and learning to live with less was set aside to simply clean and make room.
As I reach the half way point of this year of downsizing, I find that the change in thinking required to live with less is harder than I thought. My original feelings have waned a bit and I wonder if that first burst of energy was more about gaining control of something, anything, and less about a desire to live with less. I like shopping; I like buying; I like many of my things; ultimately I like control of things. When my life has so many things I can't control I search for something TO control. Back in January, that was control of my things and wanting a smaller pile of things to control.
Maybe I am realizing I can't control all that I thought I could, and I question my ability to control anything. Is this why every August I have the nightmare about the class I can't control? Or does that continue to just be a bad dream of nervousness about the upcoming school year? But I digress.
Am I so reluctant to let God control that He finds it necessary to take away ALL my control and only give back some control when I demonstrate that I will not be greedy? If that be the case, then I must push on toward my goal of eliminating one thing a day for the year 2011.
June brought the much needed cleaning of my walk-in closet, which had sadly ceased being true to its name "Walk-in". The following items have been culled in the last week.
- Two vintage bowling shirts—gone!
- Brown blazer (can't remember last time I wore it—pasado!
- Gray light jacket emblazoned with Whitworth logo—abiit!
- Crocheted doilies whose original eludes me—weg!
- Brown pants thankfully still too large—borta!
- Navy blue pants for the same reason as #5—ido!
- Japanese hankerchief—odszedł
- Blue corduroy blazer for same reason as #2—borte!
- Five pair various socks—dingo!
- Black sweater—pagājis!
- Brown dress—andato!
- Black & red long sleeve dress shirt—imithe!
- Two kids t-shirts meant as gifts and forgotten. Now too small.—farin!
- Green and black dress—elmúlt!
- Bag of fabric pieces—φύγει
- Three hangers (I may have to re-evaluate the number I left in my closet. Way to many to control.)—ir!
I know that only is only 23 things. Many things didn't get into the disposal pile because they went straight to the garbage, which is gone now. I choose to count that list as 30 items for June. Additionally, my total count as of today (368) is far beyond the 186 days of this year. And my last reason for calling that good is the upcycling I did with several pieces of fabric. I made two lunch boxes and two reversible aprons. I will also be upcycling an unfinished scrap quilt and making it a handy camping tablecloth/throw. Since I must finish that today so it is ready for our camping trip tomorrow, I shall close this post.
BTW did you notice I turned this into a language lesson for you? The word "gone" in several languages thanks to Google translate. Teachers never go on vacation, just ask my grown children!
