Do You Become Attached to Things?

Are you a pack-rat? Do you save everything and then some? Today I ponder the fact that I move on quite easily when it comes to “things.” Course I have some regrets about that, but I’m a minimalist when it comes to organization, especially in my house or office.

The problem is—I don’t CLEAN enough and that’s the issue. When it comes time to go through things, I’m so overwhelmed, I simply throw everything out, but a few things that I know I MUST keep. I even find myself throwing pennies in the trash! Worthless, heavy coin! Why we still have it, I’ll never know! But that is another topic for another day. I also clear things out of my electronics as well. Emails. Messages. Pics. But same. I end up getting so overwhelmed when I read that my email box is full, I end up losing valuable things. I’m working towards balance when it comes to this.

This probably surprises you, for those who know me well and how emotional I am. But I’ve realized, I don’t get all that attached to “things.”

When I moved at 13, I cried, thinking I was giving up my childhood memories. I didn’t care after a day. When I got rid of my first car, my beloved first car that saw things it shouldn’t have, I was so emotionally distraught, until I got a much better car. It wasn’t about the car. It was about the freedom. And when I got a kindle and donated many of my books, so many books because I moved and the packing was insurmountable, I heard a voice inside my head whispering: “You will regret this. Yes you will.” But…yup. I didn’t. I read more now, and well, you’ve read my environmental posts. It’s not to say I don’t keep some things. I do! I have essays and plays and poems I STILL have from former students. And letters. Some cards. My dad's eulogy. I even saved some old Avon perfume pins handed down to me from my great aunt. Those are a hoot! A few American girl dolls. Duh. Of course. Who hasn't? I did throw out my Barbies though. Do I regret that? Maybe a little. :) But you see, I didn’t give up ALL of it, just the “stuff” I no longer felt I needed. I really wasn't that attached. But most recently, when I gave up my summer family cabin, I didn’t think I’d be able to survive a summer without the lake and the dock and campfires and everything else I lived with since I can remember, the peace and serenity I often found there. But alas, it was sort of nice not to worry about driving there, about who might be there, about maintenance, about the loud fireworks. I simply moved on. Replaced it with other things that brought me equal parts peace and emotion. And that realization is bittersweet. Things weigh us down, tie us to the past too much like a chain, and we're not living in the moment. We can’t grow if we hold on too tight and become so attached to things that we become immobile. I suppose that is life. A constant moving on. It’s not the things. It’s the emotions. It’s the feelings. There is beauty in so much right in front of us every day, if we just notice. And I’ll have those things with me always in the now and as memories. For really, everything takes place in our mind anyway.

​My deduction is simple: If I don’t remember it, it wasn’t important. And IF I can’t remember it someday, so be that too. I won’t know!
​
But people? People I love…now that. That is another story. Maybe someday I’ll learn how to become less attached.