The Purge

This year, instead of spring cleaning (or possibly in addition to spring cleaning), Adam and I have gone through a material purge since New Years'.  Yes, part of it is by necessity.  Adam, Scout, and I live in a one bedroom apartment that does have an extra mini-room they market as an office.  Based on the tight living space, our purge has been imperative before we start acquiring what seems like an unbelievably overwhelming amount of baby paraphernalia.

Those of you that know me, know that I do have an organizational streak.  Some may even argue that it's more than just a streak.  So, the prospect of going through the entire apartment (daunting that it may have been) was not entirely unwelcome.  I systematically went through each room of our apartment.  We took more than a few trips to Goodwill to donate and sadly, almost as many trips to the dumpster.  I know that throwing things away can make baby Jesus cry, but not everything can be salvaged, repurposed, or donated.  Each time we identified something we could get rid of, it felt like a tiny weight was lifted.  Room by room, that feeling grew stronger.  

Then, I stepped back to look around.  At this point, we had devoted fragments of the entire month of January to this project.  I was feeling good, thinking we were making some headway.  As I looked around, I realized something.  If I hadn't know better, I wouldn't even be able to tell that we had purged ourselves of anything.  Our apartment is still cluttered and full; "lived in," could be an understatement.  Yes, we'd managed to empty out our small extra space in order to fill it up in the coming months with baby things and we cleaned out one of our very few kitchen cabinets to devote it to the same purpose.  So, perhaps it was worth it...at least I'll claim it as a success.  Right now, the purge had to happen and I was as ruthless as I could manage.  It was cleansing and provided the jumping off point that we needed for a fresh start with our growing family.  Honestly, I feel good about it as a whole.  I would recommend a purge to start any new stage in life or just whenever you feel weighted down.

The whole attempt has reminded me, however, that we have so much more than we need.  While we have our struggles, financial and otherwise, and it can feel like they deeper than those of our friends, we are incredibly lucky.  I am all too often guilty of coveting the things, the space, and the time that others appear to have in spades, while overlooking all that I have been given.  Take the time to do a purge of your own; separate out what you are willing to get rid of and then step back to see all that you have left.  Be thankful for each thing, but don't put too much value in the things.  Look past the cheesiness of my suggestions and embrace it!