Clutter...

Clutter, those things that aren't needed and don't bring value, meaning, or add beauty to life... basicly the junk items.  The things that one keeps because of the memories, or the fear of needing it

My life feels like it stuffed by clutter, both physical and mental.  One would think after 10 years on the road I would not have alot, but when I left the Desert Southwest, it took about 5 car trips to clear out, what my husband and I kepts, and many more trips to the area Goodwill.  Why?  What is the reason I keep so much clutter?

Maybe it is because I feared being without my memories, with out the things that reminded my mother - who passed away 4 years ago.  Maybe I feared forgetting my grandmother - who passed when I was in my 20s.  Maybe it is because I was adopted, and didnt have roots those first 6 months of my life.  All I know, is I feared even thinking of a packing party, especially if it would include my beloved books... for some reason books are what I have the hardest time even thinking of giving up. 

Books were always my gateway to the world, but some I have read once, then have kept on the bookshelf as trophies of accomplishment.  Why?  I have no clue.  Then there are those books I return to over and over, and even have worn out and replaced with new copies.  Those I am leaving out, the about 15-20 (including cookbooks) books of which that is true.  Now I will deal with the reast, and wrestle with why I have kept books I never read...

I think we all have issues which our clutter either hids or reflects our inner struggles with... I hope maybe my journey in dealing with my clutter - physically, emotionally, mentally and the likes - might aid your journey, too!

Packing Party

So I am starting this "Packing Party" with my items, and with my clothing trying the 333 Project at the same time (as I dont have a bunch of clothing as is).  I think the hardest with this has been my books.... and a place to put the boxes while I give them a month to think on. 

Packing up my side of the room and neatening my husbands was odd.  It at once seems bare, but calming at the same time.  While I am not embracing being more, I am thinking the curtains in the room are all wrong...but then I haven't been happy with them since we moved in.  That I am going to give time, and ponder what will be "right".

It is freeing to see what I really use and love, and it not being hidden with clutter. I feel this is going to help me take a step back, see what I really love, what I keep just for "appearances", and may happs see my pathway more clearly.  We will see in the weeks to come...


~ Michelle

A New Chapter

In 2014 my mother died.  I had faced death many times before then, but this time it made me really look at what I believed, how I lived,  and what really matters in life.  It is 2018, and that journey still continues.  Late 2014 or early 2015, I stumbled onto minimalism, which echoed the thoughts of Saint Francis of Assisi, but not in the 12th Century setting... and like Franciscanism spoke to me as a teen, minimalism speaks to me as an adult.

I have spent my journey as floating between the Gothic, Steampunk, and Bohemian styles... living in the Deep South, Midwest, and Desert Southwest.  I have lived in 13 states over 10 years, some more than once. I have lived in a tiny house, a studio, and a two bedroom home, or more often, a single 15x15 room in a shared living situation.   I have moved with what fits in the back of a truck, a car, or a station wagon, more than once.  Yet still I have more than I need. 

I grew up close to a hoarder, and I hated that type of life.  I also grew up close to a minimalist, and I admired most of that, howabit, more as a grown up then as a child. Yet I am messy, give me a backpack of clothing, and I can make a mess in a perfect hotel room.  But, culter drives me crazy.

I have lived between different parts of Christianity - Lutheran, Pentecostal, Baptist.  I studied Franciscanism.  I lived as a missionary.  I lived as a simple believer.  I still hold the teaching of Jesus close, but I try to listens to everyones stories on their journey, without compromising my own story...

This are the stories that shape my journey, my experiences, my story, and I offer for you to join my journey, and may happs, we can learn together along the way...

~ Michelle