Book 217 - A Year of Magical Learning (Part 2/2)

Reflection Title: What I Learned After a Month of Letting Go!

Book – The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson (Part 2 of 2)

Book Description: A charming, practical, and unsentimental approach to putting a home in order while reflecting on the tiny joys that make up a long life.

In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning "death" and städning meaning "cleaning." This surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner rather than later, before others have to do it for you.

In The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, artist Margareta Magnusson, with Scandinavian humor and wisdom, instructs listeners to embrace minimalism. Her radical and joyous method for putting things in order helps families broach sensitive conversations and makes the process uplifting rather than overwhelming.

Reflection:

My one-month challenge of daily “death cleaning” is officially complete and I’m excited to report back my findings from my adventures from the month of letting go.

Lesson 1: EVERYTHING deserves a chance to serve its purpose in this world, and that even includes or “stuff”!

As I picked up T-Shirt after T-Shirt that I’ve never even worn, found random items stuffed in hall closets that have never been used, or removed stuff from my attic that hasn’t seen the light of day in 10 years; I got this overwhelming sense of sadness for the item itself. I know that sounds weird but doing this every single day for a month slowly started to make me realize how poorly these items were being treated by myself. After a few days, all I could think is who am I to deny this item a chance at fulfilling its purpose in this world? These poor T-Shirts, pants, or jackets I found tucked away in my closet never stood a chance of ever making it into my regular rotation. They were doomed to a life of gathering dust and never feeling the joy of being used for their intended purpose.

I talk a lot about purpose on this journey, and that is mainly focused on the living and natural world of animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, etc. This monthly challenge forced me to think about purpose of things outside of the biological world. Things like furniture, paper, clothing, appliances, cups, dishes, etc. These things only exist because they have a purpose to fulfill as well in this world.

If we bring something into our life, living or not, it should be for a reason. You would never invite a dog into your home and then put it in your attic for 10 years, that would literally be animal abuse. I think the same mindset should be shared with property as well to a certain extent. Just like a dog has a purpose, a t-shirt has a purpose as well. Its purpose could be to keep you warm, soak up your sweat, shield you from the sun, express your creativity and unique style, etc. It should have the chance to do its job in this world. If it has served its purpose in your life, let it go and give a chance to move on to the next person if it still has some life left in it. If you’ve worn it into the ground, then feel good that it has lived its purpose and send it somewhere it can be recycled and come back to life in a different form and purpose. The worst thing you can do is to keep it locked up in a drawer somewhere where it never even has a chance.

Lesson 2: Letting Go Can Be Fun!

This experiment was actually a ton of fun. I got to spend some quality time with forgotten items one last time before sending them on their way to their new home. It felt fun to relive old memories, specifically around items of clothing. Thinking about where you got them, why you got them, places you wore them, people you wore them around, etc. It was like a trip back in time, and it felt light and brought back joyful memories.

Lesson 3: Letting Go Can Be Freeing!

I can’t tell you how much mentally lighter I feel after a month of letting go a little each day. Whether we know it or not, we carry all that junk around with us in one way or another. We may have tucked everything away and out of eyesight, but that doesn’t mean the problem is gone. We all know those drawers that are packed to the brim, attics bursting at the seams, or closets about to explode are not a solution. We may not think about it all the time, but we definitely think about it at some point. Each time we do, it adds just a little more complexity to our day and distracts us from our own purpose. By letting go, it not only frees our things to fulfill their purpose, but frees ourselves to focus more of our attention on our own.

Lesson 4: When you tidy, it magically attracts others to join in the fun!

After the first few days of tidying, I found that I had a tiny little helper that seemed to pop up each night ready to work. My son, Luca, couldn’t get enough of the tidying fun. All the random crap I was pulling out of closets and drawers immediately found a new purpose in my son’s hands. It was fun to do an activity together, and it made the experience so much more enjoyable.

Even my wife got into the act, which was a minor miracle. I only focused on tidying my own stuff or common spaces for the most part in my house. I left her stuff alone because that would be wrong. However, that damn attic…the bane of my existence…is at least 50% her mess and I knew I couldn't do it without her. I’ve literally spent the past 5 years begging my wife to help me clean up her junk in the attic, clearly that didn’t get me anywhere. Magically, somehow me tidying every day led to her agreeing to help out with the attic. Maybe it was the pile after pile of junk she saw me throw out or donate each day that motivated her. Maybe it was the fun she saw me having with our son. Maybe it was guilt…I don’t know. Whatever it was, she agreed to help with the attic and we spent 3 hours on a Saturday and got the majority of her stuff cleaned up. I took on the rest happily from there. MY ATTIC IS CLEAN and it feels so good. I've gone in there like 30 times this month just to look at it!!! I know...I'm weird.

5 years of complaining got me nowhere. 1 month of tidying for myself magically got it done. Something to think about!

Question: What lessons can you learn if you spent some time tidying and letting go of things in your life?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? - An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson