What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?
(Author: Sam Davidson)
I have lots of things in my life to get rid of both physically and emotionally so I think I will just list them one by one.
1. Clutter!!! In what is supposed to be the greatest electronic age, I still have way too much paper in my life. With at least four laptop crashes in the last two years, I guess old habits die hard. I didn't even lose anything in my crashes except a few emails because I double, triple and quadruple back up now but I still like the feel of paper. I will try and divest myself of a lot in 2011 which should make finding the important papers way easier.
2. Clothes that don't fit! I have essentially been the same size now for almost 6 years. Why do I still hold onto things that are both too big and too small. By the time I get to one of those others sizes, what I have will be so out of date that I won't wear it anyway. Hopefully the clothing bank won't make comments on the out of dateness of my donations. My closet and my attic will be happy and so will I.
3. Knitting and Quilting UFO's (Unfinished Objects)! I don't want to get rid of them but I do want to finish them thereby changing their status to "finished object" rather than "unfinished object". I fear this may have been a plan for the last several years. Achieving this goal, if only by a little, will make me spend less time thinking about knitting and quilting and more time actually doing it.
4. The pile of unread books! Once again I don't necessarily want to get rid of them but I'd like to turn them from unread books to read books. At that point I can decide which ones to keep. I love to read but I don't make it a priority. My goal is to see a new book when I'm shopping and be able to buy it and come home and start reading it instead of adding it to the pile. That would feel wonderful.
5. Procrastination! I think this word is my arch-enemy. It gets blamed for everything. It is the distant unattainable answer to all my problems. I resolve to eliminate using the word procrastination as an excuse and to just carefully choose the things I will do without any guilt.
6. The phrase "yes, no problem"! This is a phrase I utter without thinking even when there really IS a problem. I guess there are time when I can use this term without a little ping of dread. But saying it less or eliminating it altogether coupled with embracing the word "no" would feel pretty great!
7. Excuses! These are not the traditional explanations for why something did not get done. These are the evil little voices in my head that justify not doing something that would be good for me, good for my relationship and good for my soul. This will be a hard one but it would be a terrific accomplishment.
8. A Volunteer Job! I won't go into the specifics here but it is time for me to move on from a task that I haven't done well, continue to agree to do, resolve to do better and then feel guilty when I don't. The overwhelming feeling of relief will be wonderful. The first step is already in motion. Fingers crossed that I don't cave at the last minute.
9. Sugar! I know that sugar is not good for my energy level or general feeling of wellness yet I struggle all the time with letting sugar AND artificial sweetener alone. I know that you can't eliminate all sugar but when I significantly reduce my intake, I feel better. In a only a day or two my craving goes away. It is a magical fleeting moment...soon it creeps back in and takes hold. This is one of those goals that reminds me of the Japanese saying, "Fall down seven times, get up eight." That is what I'm going to do.
10. Wasting Time! I think this may go hand in hand with procrastination. I do believe that everyone needs time to relax and recharge. That is not a waste of time but there are any number of things that do waste time and I'd like to eliminate them. This should have a positive effect on my ability to get things done in a timely manner.
11. Guilt!!!!! This is the big one. The one that came to mind first but I forced to be last. I would like to eliminate the feeling of guilt that comes roaring in on every aspect of my life. Just let it go!
These 11 eliminations are in random order, just as I thought them up with the exception of number 11. If I truly succeed in any of these task, I will be very thankful. Eliminating things, even those that are bad for you is tough!
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