OK, I have to admit it–I’m still feeling a bit overwhelmed.
I was talking to a good friend about this tonight, and she had some really great suggestions on how to find help getting the house cleared and ready for the move: some other donation sites I hadn’t thought of that will pick up furniture, a quick-and-easy auction site that will also pick up items, and so on.
But the best bit of advice she had to offer was this:
You need to do something really focused so that you can see that you are making progress.
She suggested getting the entire family together in one room–and getting that room done. Clear out everything that needs to cleared out, and pack up everything that needs packing.
Absolutely brilliant.
I won’t be doing that tonight–no time for that in the next couple of hours–but it does give me a point of focus for the day, and an opportunity to remind myself that even if I can’t see it too easily right now, we have made a lot of progress… not just in preparing for this move, but in decluttering and simplifying our household.
But it’s important to see it.
And that’s true for those “inside jobs” as well.
I’m all for being in process (I’ll spare you the appropriate Emerson quote), but today is a day in which I really need to take a moment to acknowledge the progress we have made over the past six months.
365 Simplify 
I’m always a sucker for a good Emerson quote, tho (grin).
I had one of my favorites in mind: “Life only avails, not the having lived. Power ceases in the instant of repose; it resides in the moment of transition from a past to a new state, in the shooting of the gulf, in the darting to an aim. This one fact the world hates, that the soul becomes.”
Yes! How he could write … I haven’t read that in years, nor could I begin to guess what it’s from, but that turn of phrase “shooting of the gulf” is a clear bell ringing.
Great advice from your friend. I think that noting progress is really really important, especially at times when it seems I’m getting nowhere and tempted to think that I’m lazy. I think that noting progress and exercising gratitude go hand in hand and are strengthening when steadily applied. From a reader’s perspective, your progress is daily and not solely measured by the amount of physical possessions released from your past. While physically simplifying is incredibly useful, what it also does is get “stuff” out of the way so that our relationships and our sense of peace and creativity can flourish. I subscribe to a total of three blogs. Yours is one because you offer great value, a great heart and writing style, and you’re always into something new, whether it be external or internal. You’re growing daily in wisdom and capacity. Isn’t that amazing?
Wow–your support of my little project it truly humbling. Thank you. And thank you for giving me my prompt for today!