Decluttering and moving

As of Christmas Eve I have come to the end of my month of decluttering.  In an attempt to get things to a more reasonable level in my apartment, I gave myself the goal of getting rid of one thing for 30 days starting on November 25.  The results were very pleasing.  It became a pretty big pile of stuff rather quickly which was not what I had expected at all. It even helped a lot with Christmas shopping in a way.  People would come over and occasionally find something they would like in the box.  Definitely the most surprising one for me was my friend revealing a great love for Anne of Green Gables. So Canadian!  I gifted her the full box set.  It worked out even better than expected because she had forgotten about expressing an interest in them. Double success!

With having been told I have a limited time to move out I have stopped going through my books as vigorously as I would like but I did manage to clear out about half a shelf.  Now the remaining are all packed up and ready to move.  With most of my things going into storage (minus that which can not freeze) I'll be able to go through my boxes one by one and eliminate all of the books that I'm not really interested in reading or re-reading in the future.  My standards are pretty high for which books I'll be allowing myself to keep because I've limited myself for a more simplistic lifestyle.  I've filled half a large plastic bin with my favourite and in some cases rare books that I have. When I've gone through my sizable collection I will eventually fill up the rest of the box.  Past that I will not allow myself to have anymore books.  Supporting local libraries has always been important to me so this will really force me to be a more consistent patron.

...ok odds are that I will have another bin by the end but the hope is there.

I feel like I'm on the cusp of some great change because of this move.  In theory I think this will force me to make some pretty big decisions about where I'm going in life and who I want to be.  Most days I'm ok with this change but then I'll find myself waking up from a nightmare (dreamt that I was actually supposed to move out a few weeks earlier than expected... as in that day!).  My mind is trying to work through some pretty intense anxiety over it all - will I be able to pack up everything in time?  The move has put me into a bit of free fall state of stress. My only real comfort comes from packing.  The simple act of putting my shit into boxes has become a type of meditation that has managed to make me feel like this move might actually be an attainable goal.  Slowly my life is becoming a sea of cardboard on every chair and patch of rug in my place but that just means that I'm actually getting closer to my goal.

Here is hoping that I'll be able to actually get it all done.