Ever since I started taking an interest in other things that life has to offer, my house has suffered. I used to take pride in clean, organized and de-junked closets and drawers. Now? The closets have doors, don't they? And if you can close a drawer it must be clean, right?
Every now and again I used to save on the grocery budget by convincing myself we could survive (on the stockpile of groceries that amassed in the house) for at least a month. So I would cut down on groceries and empty out the cupboards and freezer. Lately? I start to do that, but some primal survival instinct has me thinking the instant some of the supplies start depleting, I must start replenishing them. Clean windows? Clean floors? Raking the lawn? Washing the car? All of the above hurt my shoulder. I'm working at fixing what ails my shoulder. Before long, I should have full mobility once again. I wonder what excuse I'll find then? Trust me, I find once I break a good habit, I have no trouble incorporating (the lack of) it into my everyday life.
I look back at the person that I used to be. I would devote an entire weekend to de-cluttering the closets. And that was all that I would talk about for a week. Heavens, I'm sure that I even have memories of showing people my clean oven and/or closets. How shallow I used to be.
The next weekend, I may focus on cleaning windows, light fixtures and vacuuming out the registers. Oh, the satisfaction I used to get from knowing all of those nooks and crannies were clean. I would sit down at the end of the day and just gaze at all the cleanliness. It would be the focal point of my conversations. It's really no wonder I didn't have many friends back then.
Then after all that, I would gather all of my old treasures and start to organize a garage sale. This would entail cleaning out the garage. Can you imagine the conversations that triggered?
If that wasn't enough, I would spend the next weekend sitting in the garage with all of my excess clutter and try to sell it. This was exciting for me. It was my excuse to sit still for two days. I loved it. The bonus was, getting to talk to some of my neighbours who dropped by. Neighbours who were privy to looking deep inside of my closets and judging me accordingly.
That was my life. Then ... I started writing. I started a blog. I started collecting memories about my mom's family. I started dancing again. I started immersing myself in "all things family" and invited family into my life. I called friends and suggested wild and crazy things (okay, okay, it was just a day at Moose Jaw, but back in the day where the highlight was sitting in the garage with my garbage, this was a milestone).
Amazingly enough, when I wasn't talking about cleaning, de-junking and having a garage sale, people actually started to act like they enjoyed my company.
I am living my life now. I have never been happier. And I get a little bit happier every day.?
Cleaning, my friend (this column was inspired by an email from an overwhelmed friend who commented that there were so many things she thought that she should be doing - spring cleaning, for one), is highly overrated!?
