Clutter

January 4, 2022

Yesterday and today was spent cleaning out my desk in the living room. You might wonder how it could take two full days to straighten up a desk, and the answer is, “You obviously haven’t see my desk, nor my penchant for clutter. It’s a good thing Linda handles the bills; if they were my domain, they would end up buried beneath piles of papers, and we would end up in arrears for almost every monthly bill that comes in. 

I should have taken before and after photos, but the best I can do is to say I filled up an entire trash bag with old financial statements, magazines, cards, and unnecessary files. Everything looks pretty good, just waiting for the clutter to begin all over again. I promise myself it won’t happen, but invariably it does because I tend to stuff things in an “out of sight/out of mind” sort of way.

Tomorrow, I’ll start on my garage, which is even more disastrous than my desk. Part of the problem there is the amount of stuff I’m trying to cram into a rather smallish space. I have antique motorcycle parts spread all over the garage, on shelves, in the loft, and jammed into a space by the back wall. In my workshop/motorcycle bay are chair parts, lumber, hardware, bee equipment, and books. Yes, books. It’s pretty much a disaster, and my job for the next couple weeks is un-disastering it. It’ll take at least that long, but it desperately needs to be done.

Linda and I were talking with granddaughter Alex tonight. When she moved to Brooklyn for her job, she took about half of what she owned with her. Coming home for Christmas, she brought about half of that back. Her work now has taken her to Chautauqua Institution, where she halved her possessions again, fitting what she needed into a backpack and suitcase. “I don’t need all that stuff,” she says; “I live quite well as a minimalist.” 

I think she’s way ahead of me in her detachment from the stuff of this world. She’s spent time in Cuba and Uganda, has seen firsthand the desperate plight of people in these places, and sees no need to weigh herself down with the things that matter so much to so many of us. In a way, I envy her. I have loads of stuff that hangs around because it might come in handy some day, but rarely does.

I’ve often said that one can tell the state of one’s inner life by peeking into their personal space.  Clutter and chaos in those places I believe, are reflections of the state of our souls. My spaces haven’t been pretty, and I suspect it mirrors my inner life. So tomorrow, I tackle the garage, and if my suspicions are correct, by the time I’m done, not only my garage and desk, but my soul too, will be in order. That will be great occasion for thanksgiving!