This March, I stumbled across an online course called “The Best Year of Your Life” via a Facebook ad from DailyOM as I scrolled through Facebook one Thursday morning. It’s only $10, and gives you a simple self-development task to focus on each week for one year. So far, I’ve felt like the missions each week have been strangely relevant to what’s been happening in my life every week, so I believe that I came across this course for a reason.
Example numero uno, the very week I started this course, Reid was out of town over the weekend and I had planned with my friend Jordan for her to come over Saturday morning and help me tackle the monster that my closet and drawers had become. Lesson number one is titled “Lighten Your Load”, about letting go of stuff you’ve been holding onto for too long that is also holding you back in living your best life, and I for sure had an issue with allowing my closet to get so out of hand that it gave me anxiety to even think about so that I then avoided going through it and the problem spiraled even more out of control.
As Jordan was helping me, and we were taking everything out of the closet racks, and shelves, and dresser drawers, and I stood there staring at the immense mounds of STUFF I had allowed to accumulate, I was so freakin’ embarrassed. I had a moment where I bordered on a panic attack, just because I felt so SICKENED by the sheer volume of material items I had stashed away and allowed to consume my life. I kept saying to Jordan, “I’m MORTIFIED, thank you so much for helping me, clearly I need it, this is on a level of borderline HOARDING!!”
Without having my mom around to go through my wardrobe like we did before each school year, I just hadn’t dedicated the time I needed to retroactively tackle the years of accumulation, and I for sure recommend getting another person to stand by and help talk you out of your own crazy demons whispering in your ear, “You need to keep this.” Jordan helped me see how truly insane I was being when I wanted to continue hanging onto something I should clearly part with.
The Questions to Ask of Every Item You Touch
- Is this stained (armpits or spaghetti sauce or otherwise)? Ripped/torn? Pilling? Shrunk in wash? Faded beyond recognition? Basically, is this item still in a condition where I should show my face wearing it in public? If damaged, trash it.
- Does this still fit? Am I just keeping this item as something to the effect of “goal jeans”? If that’s the case, ditch ‘em, but donate if still in good condition, just not in a good condition to fit your body as it is now.
- Does this bring me joy? Do I even still like this item, or have I just been holding on to it so that I don’t have to do laundry as often, but it’s always the last resort of outfit I reach for when the majority of my wardrobe is in the hamper?
- How long have I had this? When will I wear this again? Is it still in style, or what I want my ideal future style to be? If not, part with it.
Just How Much S**t I Ditched
Donated
- 34 T-shirts
- 25 Pants
- 22 Dresses/Skirts
- 11 Scarves/Belts
- 27 (Non-tee) Shirts
- 18 Sweaters/Jackets
- 4 Pairs of Shoes
- and 1 Suit set
Trashed
- 20+ T-shirts
- 7+ Pairs of Socks
- 8+ Bathing Suit sets
- …and 2 more trash bags full that I decided not to go back through just to count for this blog post, plus some jewelry and random crap from my drawer of insanity
Grand Total
Over 177++ articles of clothing/accessories!! It amounted to 6 or 7 full trash bags to donate, and 3 bags to throw away. Craziness. Plus, I actually went back through everything again more recently and filled up a whole other bag to donate too, and more than a trash bag of items from my bathroom cupboards of old skin/hair/nail products I needed to part with.
I plan to do a post on just how much I was left with after all this purging as well and after fitting it all into the RV, maybe even doing a capsule wardrobe!
The Self-Love Game
The gamification system built in to the Best Year of Your Life course involves deciding on some sort of treat yo’self item or experience to reward yourself with once you reach 1,000 points earned from the weekly challenges. This week said to give yourself 50 points for every place in your life where you lighten your load, so I gave myself 50 points each for the racks and shelves in my master closet, the nightstand and dresser drawers in our bedroom, and my bathroom, for a total of 150 points after week one.
