Why lack of space is not the problem…
Human beings are amazing creatures. They can leap forwards in time with a single thought. They can dream up buildings that don’t exist, or landscapes that aren’t even physically possible. They’re fast, and adaptable and incredibly imaginative and creative. That’s the up-side and it’s a big one.
On the more mundane level, there is a downside to this incredible creative imagination, if you’re trying to let go of all the stuff you’ve hoarded. Half the problem will be your capacity to imagine. You see, human beings (especially when they’re young) find it hard to remember that they’re mortal. They can imagine having infinite time to do things, so it’s hard to remember that they won’t actually have that time.
This gets reflected on a physical level. I mean, think about it. If you had 7 lifetimes, then you could afford to indulge every hobby you’ve ever been interested in, and to believe that you really will get round to making your own curtains, or rebuilding your bike, etc. And so you’d keep all the items you needed for those tasks, until you got round to them. With some people, you can see that they believe they have room for several houses worth of possessions, to go with their several lifetimes.
But the trouble is, you don’t have 7 lifetimes. Some people, tragically, don’t even get a whole one. Acting as if you have several lifetimes, means that you blithely clutter your time with commitments that don’t really matter to you, and clutter your space with things which you can never have time to get round to using and enjoying. The final irony, is that working around these extra possessions, and maintaining them, will take up some of the precious limited time that you actually do have.
The National Association of Professional Organisers estimates that about 80% of the clutter in your home or office is a result of disorganization, not lack of space. That is, 80% of the clutter in your home is made up either of redundant items that you have decided to hang onto, or seldom used items that are badly stored. I think the majority of these items are ones that the average person hasn’t been able to make a firm decision about because of their subconscious ‘several lifetimes’ belief. Remember that you only have one lifetime. Making it count means making decisions about what it truly important to you. Doing that should help you to make decisions on what you really need in your one and only lifetime, and to ‘pack’ accordingly!
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