But, I believe this recent identity theft incident, eating up my spare time and brain cells, may prove to be the impetus that gets me to really simply and de-stress my life.
Letting go will encompass several important areas:
1) home - this will include major de-cluttering; donating books, CD-ROMs, etc., to the library instead of trying to sell them on Half.com
2) mind - I need to forget old notions that just may not apply. For example, I caught myself thinking, "damn, I just wasted a whole weekend," and was starting to feel depressed, but I caught myself in time. I asked myself, "am I feeling happy? Did I get enough sleep? Have I cleaned bathrooms like I usually do?" The answers were "yes" all around. So, I've not really wasted the weekend if I'm still at peace with myself and I'm happy.
2) extraneous - no more picking up new hobbies and trying to pursue things that lead to dead ends.
Speaking of ends, we picked the last of the mache from the greenhouse. It made a beautiful salad (here it is, pre-washing).
The meal itself was pretty darned tasty too...organic hotdogs on homemade buns. Dh made a cauliflower dish using Mark Bittman's Cauliflower with Garlic and Anchovies recipe in his How to Cook Everything book; it was delish.
Letting go: it's a little sad, but it'll all lead to a lighter place: lighter home, lighter heart, lighter mind.Do you have something you need to let go of? Old textbooks that you'll never use again? A grudge? Or an ugly something you inherited?
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
21 comments:
so refreshing and a bit ingenious. I should take a page from your book.
;)
I certainly have a few more books to let go...Are you doing chemistry next year?
Just don't let go of the Pond. We like you.
I'm the same...I've been having to simplify...
Hmmm. . . this makes me thoughtful. Thank you for making me think a bit today. I do have some things I need to let go of. And yes, one of them is an ugly thing. Why is letting go so hard?
The cauliflower dish reminds me that the salad I just made from Lidia's new cookbook had par-boiled cauliflower in it and it was delicious!
I watched "Hording- Buried Alive" last night on the Discovery Channel--and although I've far from a hoarder (children may think otherwise)- I really need to go through lots more items and donate...
Yikes, I'm in that mood too. I'm thinking about (gasp) doing sort of a public accountability group thing around decluttering and cleaning up my life and my messy desk.
You're inspiring me! =)
Congrats on coming to such a conclusion, though sorry that you're going through such a situation. Why in the world would someone have books delivered to you? I could see ordering books and having them delivered to him or herself, but he or she gets nothing for having them delivered to you. It's like you had your identity stolen by someone really stupid or something (like the crooks that get stuck in the chimney and have to be rescued by the homeowner that they were trying to rob).
What a powerful thought-- "am I happy?" Why do we forget to ask ourselves that? Why is it easier to just beat ourselves up? --thanks for sharing! And I'm glad you're happy!
As I read I kept thinking "please don't let her say she's letting go of her blog" - I know, this week I'm a wee bit selfish :(
I have lots to let go of myself and your post reminds me that I need to stay focussed! Thank you. BTW/ I do the same, beat myself up. I need to take a moment and reflect as well and maybe I won't feel so crummy about what I think I didn't accomplish.
Ummm... I have been in a major declutter stage!! I have to say that meal looks yummy too.
mmmm, youre making me HUNGRY! delish!
Oooh! I'm going to have to add that quote to my collection!
I'm in the process of slowly decluttering as well. Just starting with baby steps!
I would love to declutter but it's just one of those things (like housework) that I avoid doing as long as there is even the slightest thing more interesting to do (and believe me most things come into that category.)
I don't seem to have enough hours in the day as it is and it is one more thing added to my list (although right at the bottom :-)
I need to let go of all of my husbands stuff...Oh...wait...HE needs to let go of that...I think I just need to let go of impatience regarding the fact that he won't get rid of text books from his first year in college...or the kazillion books that he took from the college library when they were getting rid of them (they couldn't even sell some of these books at the library book sale..they were going to throw them out..so he was just one little step from dumpster diving). So I guess I'll try and let go of my need for him to declutter. I'll try.
I had no idea you had your idenity stolen! and they signed up for AARP? weird. I'm glad that its getting straighted out though, having your CC# stolen is a scary thing.
Im glad you're feeling better...and that salad looks SOOOO GOOD! Can't wait to get my lettuce and spinach and kale in the ground so I can start harvesting!
Are you letting go of the cassette tapes yet? ;) We're in the process of de-cluttering but it means a bigger mess in the meanwhile.
And of course your food always looks delish. reminds me that I have to start putting in more spinach again, altho the last batch hasn't died off, just looks a little worse for wear.
Isnt it great how an awful situation can result in changes not directly related, but positive for you and yours! Good for you!! ( And your food looks wonderful...always inspiring!)
I hope you had a good weekend!
I understand *exactly* what you mean.
I recently discovered that I was trying to do too much in my life. Too many books to read, too many CDs to listen to, too many activities (my Google calendar looked like a psychotic rainbow!)...
I have put effort into paring down, and focusing on a few things. So far, so good.
Good for you, Teresa! We'd all do well to let go of excess things in our lives.
I really appreciated your post Teresa. It brought up lots of for me....... Thanks :)
You may think this is silly, but I let myself (often) toil over what the "perfect" photo archival method should be. That should word - always a killer. I take a billion pictures a year which leaves me with a billion pictures to deal with. I sometimes think about just making a yearly (trimmed down) book and calling it a day. I dunno.
Simplifying is very freeing. I think it will make you even happier in the long run.
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