Sometimes when I wake up I’m hit with a wave of melancholy that comes out of nowhere. I stare out my bedroom window and watch the clouds go lazily by and I get this sense of anxiety about how much of the world is out there and how much I have yet to see and how many people I have yet to meet and…It’s hard to come back down to earth and center myself on the things that matter right now, today. I’m sure that’s why I’m so insistent on surrounding myself with beautiful things. They’re comforting to me, they remind me of special things, they are the little treasures in the chest that is my life. Awwww.
On the flip side of having special things is keeping too many things. There’s such a fine line between being a collector and being a pack-rat. Sometimes a person is actually one in the same. It’s also true that you can deeply love lots and lots of things, so simply telling you to edit your home might not be an effective strategy. I have always prescribed to the space clearing checklist that asks you to ask yourself several things: Are you in love with it? Are you currently using it? Will you use it in the next several months? Does it fit? If it fits again soon will it even be in style? Why are you holding on to it?
Running through these questions helps me focus, and even though I might actually like something, if I don’t LOVE it, and I love something else more, I edit. For me, photographs used to be the hardest thing to edit. Now that we have digital cameras and file folders, I hoard stupid photos with the best of them. I used to have a box stuffed with photographs that didn’t come out well, were given to me in high school, were of other people’s kids/moms/cats and I wasn’t emotionally attached to them. Add to this family-picture-Christmas-cards and it was out of control. I went through every photo over a period of days and looked at them, remembered what I wanted to, put some in albums, and discarded those that weren’t of sentimental value. It’s the same with things in your home. Just because your best friend bought you that pair of edible underwear that one time in Vegas doesn’t mean you have to keep them.
Sometimes I display things in my home temporarily. For instance, I have a tiny hornet’s nest that I found sitting on a shelf. The symmetry of it blows my mind. I know I won’t keep it, but for now, it’s amazing to me and I enjoy walking past it – sans the hornets!
I think the important thing about collections is that they are meaningful. If you no longer care for dragonflies but everyone keeps buying them for you, it’s up to you to let everyone know that you’re over it! Believe me, until I freaked out on my mother, I would receive cows for every real and imagined holiday. I actually never remember telling her I collected cows, but for some reason she believed I did. No more cows.
To me, there is nothing worse than having a collection of anything and not keeping it tidy. Dusty, spider-webby objects don’t belong in your home. To me, that means they aren’t enjoyed, touched, interacted with or even looked at. At least once a month pick up things in your home and see that they’re dusted off. It keeps things fresh and it keeps the psychic energy of the space in flux. In fact, as a general rule your entire home should be looked after once a month. I know you’re busy, but you’re also way to special to exist in a dirty, disheveled and disorganized space. No one can bloom in that sort of environment. Home base is where you get ready to face the world. Where it’s a small rented room, a trailer, a mansion, it’s your space. Make it right!
All the best to you,
Melisa
Back to Main Site
