Making Space For What Matters

 

I used to participate in 'blog challenges' when the idea of blogging was new-ish and I was looking for content to write about.  Over time I drifted away from that kind of activity - enjoying just reading some of the posts that others provided.

Over the month of October a few blogs I follow were participating in a decluttering challenge.  It was called 30 Days to Less or Minimalism is a Journey.  The premise each day's decluttered items matched the number of the date in October ... and you picture them on your blog before removing them from your home. For example: October 1 - one item, October 2 - two items, and so on.  At first I thought the idea was worthy but too small to make much of an impact ... until we got to the higher numbers of the month, like the 20th, the 21st, ..... the 30th and the 31st!!!  Then the impact got to be substantial and challenging because it was a daily activity with increasing numbers of items with each passing day.  In fact on the final day some bloggers totaled up the discard items to discover that during October they had decluttered close to 500 items.  I consider that very substantial.  I found this challenge about day 10 - and although I was tempted to join in, I didn't see the point of starting in the middle. (an OCD part of my personality that slips into perfection. *sigh*)

So here we are on November 2nd - and one of the participants (Beckie at http://www.Fieldlilies.blogspot.com) decided to continue the challenge and less deadline driven stress.  It is called Making Space - Declutter 10 items a week - and if life gets in the way - you might miss a week, but the goal is to post 10 items weekly on the day of your choosing. That would play out to only 40 items a 4-week month as opposed to almost 500 items in a month!  Doable and also significant.  I will say the title of this challenge, Making Space, has always been the entire reason I have decluttered.  It is the positive stimulus at the end that motivates me to clean things out.  The older I get the more I feel the need for an uncluttered environment. I know that clutter for some is a mental stressor.  For me it is a de-motivator to everything else in my life.  

So I joined!

I am also hoping this practice - besides making space in my condo - will make me a more frequent blogger.  I certainly have fallen off the wagon over the last few months.  I blame it on the pandemic - but in truth - it is just plain laziness on my part.  It takes a certain amount of discipline to post regularly and that is what I have been lacking.  

Thank you Beckie for the gentle nudge resulting in a worthy effort! 

My declutter posts will be published mid-week - Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday - like Beckie's.  My mind is buzzing already with items on the way out.  Lets see how far this goes!