Release Revolution :: Less is More :: Taking My Mess to More

It's a process and a title and a revolution that I have considered for over 2 years now.

After reading "7" by Jen Hatmaker in the Fall of 2014 the wheels in my mind began turning and God ignited a spark in my heart that would plague me from then on into the present day. I use the word "plague" because it ate at me walking around my house and seeing all of the "stuff"  that I held dear and the continual items I would bring into our house in an effort to make it a "home". The stress of it has paralyzed me for stretches at a time and exacerbated my experience of depression and anxiety.

I finally accepted that at the age of 34, I was indeed my mother. I held onto memories, items, plastics and glass that I had in my mind meant something so much to me that I would keep it and store it and move it around to the next storage dwelling we would have in our next season of life. I was captive and addicted to my "stuff".

I still am as much as I've worked to reduce the amount of items in our home and to let go of ideals and pictures of who I "think I should be" versus who I really am and how I am wired.

Downsizing has always felt like a dirty word to me because our culture continues to express how "upsizing" or "upgrading" is the best thing ever and means you have arrived or are better than someone else. Truth-be-told I grew up taking trips driving south on Meridian Street north of Indianapolis which is lined with mansions and told my parents, "I'm going to live in one of those someday...I love them." I appreciate architecture and character and simply admire these pictures, but I have grown to realize and see that family dysfunction lives inside mansions too...addictions live inside big house and small huts. Thus, it doesn't matter if you live in a "happier ever after house" if you don't have love and don't know yourself.

So when we moved into our current home - which was a total God story, that's 2,288 sq feet plus a half finished basement, 6 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms on .27 acres in a cul-de-sac neighborhood and has a darling little house in the back where I am come to enjoy as a painting studio, I was elated.

I was elated...and continued to be until more life started to happy and my boys grew older and more "stuff" came into the house. They didn't play with all of it. I didn't play with all of my stuff either.

I wanted matching this and retro that. I would stare through ads online, in my email and on flyers to see what was on sale. I would browse hours on Marketplace in Facebook and Craigslist just to find the look that Joanna Gaines might have pieced together for a Fixer Upper show. IKEA catalogs used to give me oodles of ideas but I never felt that I had time to really enjoy my home anyway. I worked full-time. My children were in childcare full-time and my husband worked hours with his congregation as a minister.

My office at work was the place where it was the most "me" and it didn't have that much and I enjoyed that. I enjoyed not having to choose a certain stapler or pen. There weren't choices. You just took one and used it. I wanted my home to be this way but how? Seriously HOW?

Each time I decluttered I felt better but a part of me grab even tighter on to things that I felt were pricesless to me (i.e. honeymoon shirts or pamphlets from trips). Simply things really.

But it's time. Upon reading what has amounted to be a thorough investigation into minimalism and living with less while enjoying life more (see book list below)...it's time. STUFF HAS TO GO. LIVE HAS TO BE LIVED AGAIN. RELEASE REVOLUTION. So today remove and place items in our garage that I'm ready to part with and then Tuesday is the next step...some ideas for the stuff "DECLUTTER KINDNESS" giveaway in my driveway (free items)...
donating some items to my boys' school?
donating to Goodwill or Salvation Army?
I'm over selling things on Facebook and in Facebook groups. The time it takes to arrange pick ups or for people to actually come and pick something up off of my porch is overrated. It's almost as bad as having a yard sale anymore for me.

Pictures to come...release release release "fear asked 'if you let go will you have enough'?" Yes, yes I will have enough. No, I will not miss out.

Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver
The More of Less by Joshua Becker
Simplified Life by Emily Ley
Downsizing and Lose Clutter, Lose Weight by Peter Walsh
The Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy by Marie Kondo
The Minimalists - Documentary on Netflix