I’ve got stuff. Stuff that I hadn’t looked at for some time. I faced my stuff this weekend and I’m feeling so much better already.

About 6 years ago, I was preparing my home for my son’s wedding and getting it ready to sell at the same time. I was doing all the things you do when you want it to look just right for everyone else. I had recently gone from leasing a location 5 days a week for my work with storage space, to one day a week without any. Because of that I brought a bunch of work related stuff home. When it came time to organize and put things away, I was overwhelmed. I had a problem.  I had too much stuff. Too much stuff to hide in the cupboards or behind doors.

I called my sister who should be a professional organizer. I thought, she’ll know what to do with all of my stuff and she did. She recommended that I get a storage unit for all of my work related stuff. After all, I could write it off and it made sense that all my work stuff should be located away from my house. That felt good to me. So I boxed it all up and drove to U-Haul Storage and rented a 5X5 space for my stuff. I dropped it off, drove home and felt so good. I had taken care of my stuff…or had I?

For a few weeks I felt so free. I wasn’t looking at my stuff and the space around me felt so good. Then my mom moved. For some reason, I got stuck with her stuff but that was OK, cause I had a storage until. So I took my mom’s stuff to U Haul and crammed it in. That felt good, because I didn’t have to look it and the space around me felt so good. Then my son moved out and got married…but he didn’t take his stuff with him, or should I say, the stuff that I wanted him to save. (his children books, his super hero action figures, his college papers.) But you know, I had a place to store them, so it was all good!  One more trip to U Haul and I didn’t think about his stuff either. Or should I say, my stuff.

Over the next few years, (I know) I would drop by U Haul to pick something up or drop something off.  I think a few times I even purchased a similar item that was in the space because it was easier to buy it than pull everything out and find it. My stuff sat for years and you know, when the monthly rental payment is automatic and you don’t have to look at your stuff, it’s quite painless.

And then one day, I took my sweet husband with me when I dropped by U Haul to pick up some decorations to take to Mom. For some reason, he had never been to my nice storage facility. I guess I was keeping all that stuff to myself. I didn’t really want anyone to see it…including him. Well, that ended that day. He asked the obvious questions, “What is it costing you to hold on to this stuff?” and “Do you really need any of this stuff?” It was time to face my stuff and he was going to help me do it.

This weekend, we went and loaded up my stuff. It took loading the jeep up 4 times to empty the space. I walked into the U Haul office like a giddy little girl and said, “I’m here to check out” The customer service girl laughed at me and sweetly took my card and keys. I told her I was going to ask for forgiveness tonight because my storage fee could have fed a starving country. She smiled and said, “Yea, those months add up.” I had to say, “Years”  The employees could tell how happy I was and said “Congratulations!” as I walked out. I thought that was funny. I guess they could see it on my face. I was taking care of my stuff.

But heres the thing…I brought it home. Yep. It’s in the garage right now. Barry gave up his parking bay so I could put my stuff there to deal with. I realized as I was loading it into my garage…You can’t deal with your stuff until you bring it home.

It’s funny about our stuff. We can put it out of sight, we can ignore it,  we can keep adding to it and never deal with it. As long as we can’t see it, we think it’s not hurting anyone, including ourselves. I’m not proud about the pile I’ve created in the garage, but I’m hopeful that I’m finally going to take care of my stuff. I should have brought my stuff home a long time ago.

I don’t know why we are afraid to face our stuff. I think about that a lot. It’s like we are afraid of what we might find. Like we don’t know what we own. It’s like if we look at it, we might have to do something about it. It’s true, we can’t deal with our stuff until we bring it home.

I’m glad my stuff is home, now I’ve got work to do. Work that would still be ignored if I hadn’t faced it.

To facing your stuff,

Letha