Decluttering and Letting Go

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It's always nice to go home on a clutter-free bedroom.  :))

I spent the holiday cleaning our room while listening to Beethoven's classical music and to worship songs on youtube.  I had a great time and didn't feel tired of cleaning.  I enjoyed sorting clothes and things that are still needed and not.  Sometimes, I found it hard to decide whether to keep a thing or not so I sought help from my dear little sister.  I showed her a blouse and asked if I should still keep it or not then she asked me, "Do you still like it?  Do you think you still look good on that blouse?"  I just smiled and said, "I think it still looks nice."  (though I really haven't worn that blouse ever).  Then she asked, "Does it still spark joy?"  (Haha.  She and Pa were so influenced by the book entitled The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. )  I thought for a while, smiled, put the blouse aside and went back sorting other clothes.

After sorting the last piece of shirt on the once mountain of clothes, I got the blouse and put it with the other clothes to be given away.  Yes, it still did look good on me (and my mother also told me so)...but no, it didn't spark joy anymore.  I didn't really liked as I thought I did.  Maybe, it's not really for me.  Maybe, someone needed it more than I do.  Maybe, it could spark more joy to someone else.

Today, I realized that decluttering is the same as letting go.  There are things in life that we have to let go to live better.  We may sometimes think that we still need it or maybe we could still fix it (like what I thought when I broke my glasses) but the truth is that we really have to let it go.  We have to let go to live happier.  We have to let go for someone to fulfill his purpose.  Yes, it's hard but we have to.

Letting go takes time.  It's like organizing your room over and over and over again...but can't really finish doing so.  The bunch of things that aren't needed gets in the way of the things that should be in that place.  It's takes time to remove all of those things because you still want to keep them for reasons.  Still, you have to let those things go.

I'm not telling you to do it now.  Move at your own pace.  Take your time.  Make yourself ready...like putting all of those clothes and things together in one bag.  By doing that, it will be easier for you to give them all away.  Keep them...until you feel that it's time for you to let go.  But please be sure to really let them go to make room for more important things: those that spark joy.  Don't keep them for selfish reasons.  Someone else needs those more than you do.