Digging Out From Under

I've figured it out.  The reason why I've been feeling so antsy, so restless, so unsatisfied with things as they currently are.  It's because my creative muse has been neglected.  I have two novels in various stages of completion. Cross stitch projects lying untouched.  Glass waiting to be cut and soldered. And yet I continue to spend time doing all the stuff I don't want to do -- mostly cleaning, organizing, and reorganizing.

The other day after sweeping up detritus from the fir trees, I went looking for the dustpan in the garage. I think I spent close to twenty minutes looking and never did find it, even though I know it's out there.  Somewhere.  And that's when it hit me.  Major changes need to happen.  Back in 2013 I made a new year's resolution to purge my house of crap.  I even blogged about it at Outing My Inner Hoarder for a whole year to keep me accountable.  And it worked.  To a degree.  But in my first entry I wrote, "I'm not going minimalist." Well guess what?  I am now.

I've been reading some minimalist blogs and the idea holds a whole new appeal for me now.  Here's what it boils down to for me:

Don't buy crap you don't need.  Think I've got that one covered.  During my Outing My Inner Hoarder Days I adopted that mindset and have stuck with it.  Pretty much.

Get rid of crap you don't use or like.  And by getting rid of I don't mean putting it in a box to store it.

That's pretty much it.  When I walked the Camino, everything I needed fit into a 28 litre pack on my back.  That was the most freeing experience I've ever had.  I want to feel that way again.  Every day.  So I've registered with one of those online garage sales for my community and plan to start listing some of the bigger stuff.  Maybe an old-fashioned garage sale will follow.  The money will go into the Green Jar.  That's win-win.

It will be a slow process that's for sure.  Time to become ruthless.

But you can call me Ruth, for short.