I had made this in a college notebook
When I clean, I think. I clean, therefore I am. So I was thinking -as I was throwing away old plates and jugs and plastic bowls- this throwing things away process is a rite of passage into growing up. Up to a certain point, you only accumulate things, friends, jobs, feelings. It is necessary because you need the extra external stimuli. And then you learn to let go. You are only satisfied with the best of friends, the best of things, the right jobs. Or you are just tired of trying to fit everything into your world. Or, all of the above. And I was thinking letting go is part of growing up, maybe the most crucial part. You no longer stump your feet asking for things all the time. You let go. You also learn to let go of people. Either because as you grow up, people, well, die, or because you are not content with so-so relationships, or even because they have already gone and you are now realizing it and coming to terms with it. I have been accumulating things all my life and now I am throwing them away. More than ten big rubbish bags of staff have been thrown or given away and my phone book is also getting thinner. But that makes me feel free and it is thrilling me.
P.S. I had a break from cleaning and updated, or rather, brought into life my old flickr page. So if you want to see my photos, just click here.
May 7th, 2006 at 9:04 am
Great post chloe! I’m waiting for my energy spurt to ” let go” and then I won’t stop.
Have a great day~
May 7th, 2006 at 9:33 am
Wonderful insights, Chloe! I do believe you’ve hit on something. Age and maturity does, I think, (or at least should) help us to value quality, rather than quantity! Happy decluttering!
May 7th, 2006 at 10:55 am
I like the picture. Reminds me of Richard Hamilton.
May 7th, 2006 at 11:10 am
I so need to do that. I know it would be so therapeutic for me. It is like cleansing the soul. I am going to promise myself to do this soon. You are giving me the inspiration.
Even that picture shows how talent runs through your veins. I like it. You can interpret it several different ways.
Hugs,
Connie
May 7th, 2006 at 11:13 am
One has to not only let go people..but relationships as well. Most people accept the death of persons but not that of relationships. Every relationship has a lifespan. Real maturity is when you…grieving but graceful…bury a dead relationship, move on…and never try to disinter its corpse.
May 7th, 2006 at 11:35 am
I wonder if its something life teaches us over the years.
It feels right but sort of lonely too. I wish I would sink in to life and live every moment like I used to.
May 7th, 2006 at 11:51 am
a few years ago i decided
to “let go” of people in my
life that were negative
eternally and wearing me down
…you know, the “foul weather
friends” that seemed to delight in
my unhappiness and not my joys…
and now i have a small circle of
lovely friends i cherish
(including YOU) and feel “the
beautiful lightness of being”
i am quite minimalist in my
surroundings as well - always
giving things away…(i hate
dusting)…except for books
which are stacked everywhere…
i adopt them…
May 7th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
How Buddhist. (People think of Bhuddhism as a religion, but Gautama never meant it as such, just about how to live and how to die. Letting go is good, except when it is a disguise for impatience, exhaustion, intolerance, unwillingness to engage any more, indifference, bitterness. How to let go without succumbing to the vices of old age which these things symptomise? - this sounds gloomy, but I’m asking it quite merrily.)
May 7th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
I have also found it necessary to let people go from my life. A friend who is great to get together with, but it is always me making the effort to get together… someone who takes what you give and asks for more, and you give because helping is what friends do, but they never give anything back… (these are different people I’m talking about). There were other uneven relationships that I dropped over time. Eventually you decide you deserve better, and leave these people by the wayside.
I’m still working on letting go of things. I only just go my kitchen stuff out here; I don’t want to let go of it just yet!
May 7th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
when im looking for things I often think i must have thrown it away. Then again im sure there is a black hole in my room somewhere
May 7th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
It is wonderful to clean out the past…it’s like pruning an old tree, healthy and revitalizing. I may need to go through that process again soon. Enjoy the rest of your big clean!
May 7th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
Once again we are having similar reflections at the same time…
I don’t want to be brutally nihilistic about some things, but sometimes you just have to move on… xo S
May 7th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
I love that collage. It’s lovely. And such a statement!
May 7th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
That is a post to think about. I wonder if I ever accumulated anything and if I have things to let go…
May 7th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
Enjoy it! A good clean out always sorts my head out
May 7th, 2006 at 7:33 pm
I consider myself to be an “old soul”; since a very very young age and I got this point that you make about only accepting the best and not needing a lot from a young age as well; this didn’t mean that life was easy as a thirteen year old; to the contrary because I despised most kids my age. But it has made things easy from about my twenties onwards because I could move forward and onward…and still do.
I hope your weekend was well, my friend.
May 7th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
heidi
throw away a couple of things first. that gives you energy to get rid of a couple more. etc.
xxxx
eternally curious
I was just thinking, getting older should be about getting more freedom.
thank you
jack
ahahaa.
Toerson you are right. Hadn’t thought about it, but i probably had no idea who he was back then.
Connie
you are going to do it when you get some free time. now you have to rest and have fun and that’s therapeutic too.
thanks, you are always too kind with all the silly things i make.
bhamini
so true. sometimes we strip people of all their good light, but we refuse to do the same for relatinships. because relationships involve us too. and that is harder.
wriju
it is not lonely, it is lovely.
and it gives you more time and space to be passionate about the things that matter to you.
also, think, something good has to come with old age eh?
maddy
it is a great compliment to be thought of as a friend. really.
And yes, what is this thing with people who are there for you only when you are down?
I always thought i could understand who my true friends were by counting those who were there to share my joy. Joy is painful to be experienced without friends around to share it.
Jago
people have been telling me “oh that’s buddhist” for a long time and i take it as a compliment, always.
(or were they saying oh that’s bullshit, and i am too old and deaf to separate the two? dunno)
I don’t know the answer to your question, except maybe to let go of many little things and get bigger doses of important ones. In food terms, less crisps, candy, gum, carbonated drinks, hamburgers, etc. and more chocolate, more porcini risotto.
crag
maybe exchange a tedious person for more kitchen stuff. (i always trade in my mind when i throw things away)
xxxxxx
Steve
you are still very very young and in the accumulating phase. So put something on the black hole to stop it from sucking your things in.
Kimananda
xxxx
yes! i had never thought of it like that.
thanks
sarafina
yay! i am not crazy! yay!
were you thinking about the same thing?
i wish that life could be like that windows recycle bin. you send things there, leave them for a while and if you need them back you hit “restore”.
michele
thank you. I did it out of boredom back then, but i rather like it now.
devil mood
you are TOO young to let go. This is a senior citizens post. Don’t read, don’t read.
Fuff
thanks! when you do that, do you come across things you had said, written or done when you were younger and think “hm, i wasn’t too stupid back then”
May 7th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
Cathy
you see, good things come of being a strange 13 year old too. You are very very very lucky to have been that way from an early age. Shame i didn’t know you in high school.
Among the notebooks i found, there was one where i chatted silently with my friend Anna when we were in high school (she is one of my best friends to this day)and this is the constant dialogue on almost every page:
-Me: What are WE doing here Anna?
-Anna: What are we doing HERE Chloe?
xxx
May 7th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
i loved your post. loved everyones comments too. it is GOOD to throw away and start the collection over again. it is an accomplishment for sure. good luck!
May 8th, 2006 at 12:05 am
you lucky one! As an historian I am no good at all in throwing things away! I am a small kind of a messy, whats the opinion of M when you throw all away?
is he lucky or does he cry?
May 8th, 2006 at 12:41 am
What a wonderful post. I must admit, I’m not very good at letting go of the past (that’s why my wardrobes and house are so full !!!). I am different with people, though … these days I have only the best of friends.
Thank you , Chloe … hope you weekend was wonderful.
Take care, Meow
May 8th, 2006 at 12:48 am
Ooops, forgot to mention … I got your postcard today. Thank you so much, it is wonderful. What a beautiful place Makrinitsa looks like. One day ……
Take care, Meow xxx
May 8th, 2006 at 10:00 am
It’s true, as you get older, you realise it’snot quantity of friends, it’s quality. I’m just beginning to realise that now and I am in the process of clearing out some “friends”
May 8th, 2006 at 11:12 am
Spring Cleaning is always fun…though I am a bit of a pack rat. I still have letters from friends that I used to get after I came to the States… (’85)
pictures, books and all kinds of “stuff”
May 8th, 2006 at 11:30 am
I am helping a friend clear out thirty years worth of stuff which is piled high in her house. She’s having a hard time letting go and we were discussing the reasons why.
I think I’ll show her this post–I think the part about being satisfied with only the “best” of things will be inspiring.
May 8th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Great post! It must be that time, I’ve been helping Maria clean and toss. We loved the p.card thank you very much.
May 8th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
i’ve moved so many times. throwing old crap out has become part of my nature. only necessities and things that are close to the heart- those i can’t seem to let go of.
May 8th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
I don’t dare go looking through your flicker or I might have to send you another list of “I wants”