IMG_5420Summer ended abruptly this year. Overnight we went from hot wind-whipped days of Indian summer right into the rainy season. That weather change always triggers the annual migration of my summer clothes to the guest room closet (can’t fit everything into our small closets) and the winter ones into my bedroom closet. I love this process because it gives me an opportunity to do one of my favorite things: purge. The good thing about purging at the beginning of the season is that what you get rid of is still wearable by someone else.

I was ruthless this year. Anything that no longer reflected my life, that made me feel old, or that went with nothing else got tossed. I filled five large shopping bags full of sweaters, shoes, hats, bags, belts and scarves. It was extremely liberating. But that feeling of liberation waned when I walked into my office.

For a long time I had several banker boxes stacked on the floor in front of my bookshelves. They contained newsletters from health practitioners I’ve followed for years and  bank statements stretching back to 1999. Some of the newsletters were even in binders, arranged by category. In the back of my mind I thought, “Someday I’m going to write a book about alternative health.” I am not going to write a book about alternative health. And just about every single thing in all those papers is available online, anyway. These papers simply took up physical space in my office and psychological space in my mind. No matter how much I accomplished, they always announced “you have more to do…so much more…”IMG_5421

So, I spent one extremely satisfying day pulling all of the newsletters out of those boxes and binders and throwing them into the recycling bin, and moving the bank statements into the now empty banker boxes for shredding. Since I was able to see my bookshelf more clearly, I turned my attention to the contents of the bookshelf. Many of the books were meaningful to me once upon a time. But frankly, I just dragged a lot of them from place to place by habit. They just added to the list of to-dos: “someday I need to re-read that..” Into the recycling bags they went.

And then, like Patton marching through Europe, I attacked everything in our bathroom, starting with my makeup drawer. Out went the aged and likely bacteria-ridden eyeliners and eye shadows. Out went the last vestiges of discontinued lipsticks. Out went the expensive foundation that made my skin look yellow. And, since I have embraced the reality of my curly, short hair, out went the wide roller brushes and hair products designed to “straighten your hair over time.”IMG_5425

In the medicine cabinet I tossed out half-empty bottles of antibacterial hand cleaners  and worn-down emery boards. I pulled out expired drugs including some for our dog who left us five years ago. Fortunately we have the most spectacular recycling center in El Cerrito California that takes everything including expired drugs!

Now, when I walk into my office, open the door to my closet, or look into my makeup drawer, I breathe. I no longer feel constricted mentally, physically or emotionally, by a lot of those things that seemed topeach_shopping_bag “own” me but not serve me. I think I hear the kitchen drawers calling me…

 

So, what are you holding onto that keeps you from breathing?

Andrea’s books and new video series:

Shopping for the Real You front cover image