My Journal

Anyone who has moved an entire home must have asked themselves this same question:  How did we ever accumulate so much 'stuff'?!

Having made the decision to move, the house which has been home to me and my family for 18 years has finally sold.  For the next 6 months we will live as close as it is possible to be to the sea.  On the south coast of Ireland, in West Cork, while we consider a more permanent option.  A beautiful location, it's quiet, peaceful and very different from what we're used to.  So, with some excitement and a twinge of sadness, we began sorting.

What could we get rid of?  Feeling quite pleased with ourselves after many trips to the local charity shop and several carloads to recycling and waste, we looked around.  To my dismay, I can honestly say, I could see no difference.  It just looked like we’d done a huge tidy!
 
For many of us today, our lives are filled with material things.  We seem to collect stuff without realising either its presence or its magnitude until one day like now we're forced to confront it.  As put so well by that fastidious Japanese lady, Marie Condo:  "We can sort it now, put it off for later or leave it for our kids to sort out."  

With that sobering thought, we set about tackling the ‘stuff’ we had accumulated in our house.  It was time for serious sorting and some tough decisions.  Do I really need this?  Will I ever use it again?  Do I like it?  More car journeys to the charity shop and recycling and waste with a few escapee items to friends, the guilt of consumerism was ever-present, a consequence of years spent enjoying the convenience of disposables.
 
Thoughts of new homes for items through charity shop donations provide only slight relief.  For me the most difficult items to scrap are those that still look perfect, one more glaring paradox of life today.  My much loved and used desktop computer, still perfect but at 12 years old, now obsolete!  Video cassettes, CD’s, DVD’s, cameras, all looking as new as the day they were bought, but technology has moved on.  Our kids barely remember what a CD or DVD player looks like and whoever knew that our camera would be replaced by our phone!  Will this realisation make me more careful about what I buy in future?  I hope so.  It’s certainly a stark reminder of my part in the destruction of our planet.
 
Lastly, there’s the packing, choosing the things you really do need and those you feel you just can’t do without.  Now, as I look around at the mounting boxes and empty walls, I simply see a house.   Because after all, it’s the 'stuff' that made it a home.   Yet it feels good to be lighter and I’m ready to go.  Our home is with us, in our memories and in the remaining stuff in those boxes which will be coming with us.
 
Finally, there’s the studio.  Despite regular clear-outs, it’s interesting to look at the pieces I have kept and the reasons why.  Even more curiously to me, I can see similarities between work I’m doing now, and work done when I was just starting to paint many years ago.  But like our home, some things just have to go!  It's time for a clearout....

All for now, stay safe.

Caroline