As part of my “New Year, New Me” campaign, I’ve been trying to unload some of the clutter in my life. Last week I went through the dozens of marketing emails I get every day and unsubscribed to the ones I no longer need.
I haven’t ordered from Victoria’s Secret in years, so I took myself of their list. I don’t ever remember ordering from a company called Shari’s Berries, so they’re gone too. And the company who sends me emails in Spanish (no idea what they sell) no longer has my permission to do so.
I’m also pleased to say that I’m parting with my residual baby clutter, too. When the regular newsletter from Adoptive Families came in, I scrolled right to the bottom and unsubscribed. Babies R Us got the boot long ago, as did the portrait photographer who got me on her list.
I also went through the Mystery Closet in my office. There I found a sample of diapers and some kind of baby journal. I didn’t even bother to look what it was. In the trash it went.
What I’m pleased to report is that I had no hesitation letting go of these things, and any sadness I felt about no longer needing them was, at most, fleeting.
Congratulations and it appears this new year is starting off on a great path!! More happiness, more fun
Just this past weekend I was reorganizing a spare closet and came across the onsies I gave to my family to announce our first pregnancy along with some other baby related items I had received as gifts from a close friend after I told her I was pregnant (one item was also a baby journal). I put them in the donate bag without hesitation or a tear. It felt very empowering. I was proud of myself for not allowing the sadness to set in as it most certainly would have a couple of months ago.
After 3 years of trying, 2 years of fertility treatments and miscarriages and one year of deep depression, I decided this would be the year that I move on – to whatever I’m going to move on to (still no idea what that will be). A few months ago I packed up what I could of my baby stuff into one container, but that container still sits in the bare-walled room that was supposed to be our baby room. I’ve been thinking about going through all the stuff and donating it to the local teen pregnancy shelter (god I was terrified of becoming a pregnant teen, I wonder what I would have done if only I knew then what I know now…) and your post is giving me some inspiration to let some more of the weight go. I think the hardest thing to part with will be the diaper bag that Pampers or some other company surprisingly dropped off on my doorstep the day I was supposed to be due with our last loss (literally they rang the bell to let me know it was there, it was devastating). It has a tiny diaper and bottle inside, and it is still the most painful thing in the world, and always brings me to tears just thinking about it. I guess it’s symbolic of the life I’m not going to have.
So thank you for your inspiration, maybe it will be good for me to let go of just that bit more, so I can move forward with this second life of mine. Next will be confronting all those adoption books I bought…
Congratulations! It’s so good to have a clean out (she says, looking at the piles of stuff that needs sorting in her office), and I’m so glad you could do this without more than fleeting pain. I’ve found that keeping things around, even if they don’t give me pain anymore, still remind me of the pain, and I’m ready to let go of that too.
One thing I AM grateful for is that I NEVER bought ANY baby stuff so never had any to throw out.
Decluttering is great for the soul – clears space in the physical and mental to help you think and live again!
~x~