Spring is a time for new beginnings, for clearing out the old and bringing in the new. As a society, we know that “spring cleaning” involves opening the windows, dusting away the cobwebs, and making multiple trips to our favorite donation drop off.
But spring cleaning also involves removing ideas, habits, and outmoded lifestyle concepts. We have to let go of the idea of who we are “supposed” to be, who we are “expected” to be, and instead be who we want to be. That doesn’t mean dropping all your obligations and moving to the Caribbean to drink rum on the beach. But it does mean letting go of ideas that we have hung onto because we thought we were supposed to, or because every else does.
Let’s say that you are overrun with photos. The internet and all the magazines tell us that you select your best photos and put them in a scrapbook, so that you enjoy them for years to come. With this in mind, you purchase a scrap book, paper, glue, those cool scissors that make borders, and everything else that you needed to create Instagram-worthy scrapbooks. But once you began doing it, you found that it is too time-consuming for you, or you get option anxiety over every photo and sticker, or you just flat out don’t enjoy it. So you set aside the supplies, knowing that you should get around to it one day.
It’s OK to look at those supplies and say, “You know, I haven’t touched that stuff in five years, and I don’t really like doing it. Plus all that space could be used for my candle making / running shoes / pottery supplies / herbal teas. I don’t think I was meant to be a scrapbooker. I think I will donate those supplies to a Girl Scout troop.” It’s OK to try something, and then decided later that you don’t enjoy it. It’s called growing.
And that is what spring it about – letting those things go and making new beginnings. Pulling out the old dead weeds that choke your creative garden, and planting the seeds of the new you.
This spring, I will be decluttering (like everyone else in America), but I will also be casting out old ideas of who I should be. I will be deciding what I really enjoy doing, and who I want to be.
I will be removing those items from my home that I no longer need, use, or want.
I will be removing those ideas from my life that are keeping me from growing into the next phase of my life.