Baby Steps

I Did It.

I did it.  I did.  I gave myself permission to do something.  I allowed myself to release some of my OCD'ness and thusly release a teeny, tiny smidge of clutter from my house.


I am going to get rid of magazines that I haven't read yet.

Now, I know some of you are raising an eyebrow and thinking that maybe I've quite lost my marbles.  Because, really, it's not that big of a deal.  Toss the magazines.  Who cares?

But you see, I haven't read them.  There may be something interesting in there.  Something I didn't know and would like to know.  Something that would make my life easier or my hair look better or my clothes fit properly or my house be more organized.  And if I don't read every. single. magazine. and in the order in which they arrived in my mailbox, my life is going to be harder, uglier, ill-fitting, and badly organized.  Plus, I paid for these.  I had better get my money's worth.  And, besides.  I might MISS SOMETHING.

Mm-hmm.

Did you take a close look at that picture?  Do you see how far behind I am with this monthly reading?  Especially with the Good Housekeeping.  I like it the best, so I save it for last, but never actually get to it.  I don't even know how I ended up receiving In Style Magazine.  I swear to you, I have absolutely no recollection of subscribing to it.  I genuinely wonder if I am receiving it as a gift from someone.

ANYway, as I was cleaning out my eldest daughter's room for an upcoming project, I was equally astounded and mortified by all the Stuff everywhere.  And, later this morning, when I brought back two more magazines to add to the perilously unstable stack of periodicals piled on the top of the toilet tank in the master bathroom, I saw it.

Truly saw it.

I saw the unreasonableness of what I was doing.  I'm fervently holding on to these constant reminders that this is not the part of my life where I casually read magazines.  Creating this list of Things To Do by piling the magazines up and telling myself that I need to go through them before I can throw them out.  Adding something to my brain's checklist of "All The Things That Need Attention".  Endangering my very life as I risk sitting in front of this towering stack of information so delicately balanced on the porcelain behind me!
(okay.  That last part isn't exactly true).

But, really.  Come ON.  Stop the insanity!

Yes.  I'm going to miss out on something.  Yes, that "something" would have been cool to see/read/learn.  But my life isn't going to be any different because I missed it.  Not really.  Besides, I didn't toss my Guideposts, Imprimus, or Old Schoolhouse Magazines.  And now, my mental to-do list is smaller, as is the stack on the toilet.  It's liberating and relaxing at the same time.  And I did something way more important.

 I took a baby step into the land of "Can't Keep Everything Or Do Everything".

There is a finite amount of space in our house and a finite amount of time in a day.  And as I come to terms with this very real fact, I hope I will begin to release some guilt, some worry, some stress, and some stuff.  I thought I had already begun this very important journey a few years ago.  But something tells me that I'm actually just now beginning.  With baby, baby steps.

Now, I wasn't in danger of becoming the next episode of Hoarders or anything like that.  But, it's going to be a real challenge for me to learn to not keep everything that enters my house.  And I'm not about to do a Fly Lady type toss-out of my entire house.  But I hope I'm going to learn to be kinder to myself about what I can and can't do and keep right now.  Next year, my time restraints will change.  There will still be restraints, but they will be different.  And maybe I won't have to throw out so many magazines.

In the meantime, I'm feeling good about this Big Thing that I did.

And, those copies of Imprimus have been given only a month's reprieve.  Watch out!