If you benefited by my earlier post of Cowboy up you are going to love the rest of this! I had emailed Wendy and then I received this great email back! Nothing but helpful encouragement! I feel like I am at least able to MOVE and do something! I can have an action plan and see progress!
I have started with the clothes and shoes...and getting rid of 3-4 items of clothes or shoes when I bring one piece in...and that is working...still need to improve but it is working and I feel better.
What I love most about talking to people about this and seeing how they are moving through the process, is that I learn we are not alone, artists like us suffer from this, we CAN help others and feel paralyzed to help ourselves! But we can make a plan and see progress and have success! I am SO excited about the change I see coming! I just know I am going to feel so much better when I dig out, LET GO of some of it in order to attract what I need to me! I am so full I have no room for NEW good stuff to find its way to me.
Of course I know it will take time...but Next January I won't be dealing this this change! THAT is exciting to think on!
This was the email to Wendy:
Wow Wendy!
I felt every word you said! I have been lurking for awhile and like Rush have been feeling discouraged and hopeless! Man! Cowgirl up! LOL I thought ok...then the whole question thing...yup, I have been lazy, I haven't asked those questions...
I have to say the best part was:
"All that extra stuff isn't paying the rent, it shouldn't get to decide for you how you and your girl live. Stuff is notoriously selfish that way, it'll take all the space and make you live around it."
I had to ask myself, WHEN did I give all my power to my stuff? That is ending this weekend! I am going to see some progress! And I am asking those questions!
I think the hard part is being a mixed media artist...do I throw that image away? Don't I need that paper? What if I can use that what not in a brilliant art piece! gah! Makes my head hurt! I just have to trust that when I need to complete a piece of art I will have supplies on hand that will do and it will still be fantastic without the things I toss!
Brilliant!
Thanks for all those encouragers and all those in the throws of the disappointment and being honest! You aren't alone! I have felt alone in the chaos of my stuff, but I don't feel alone anymore!
Here is for a decluttering year! Organizing and finding my space to work in again without the pressure of my stuff taking over! Gypsy
Wendy's new response:
Hi Gypsy,
Right on, I'm glad I could help. It's never about being lazy, like you said we just get overwhelmed by the big picture. I think if you took any one of us and lent us to a friend in the same situation we'd tackle the room in an hour or less, without killing ourselves by overdoing it physically-simply because we don't want to see our friends suffer physically or mentally from all the clutter (and it's easier to tell a friend that he doesn't really need his great-aunt's broken teapot, than for us to accept that we don't really need it either.)
We are so much smarter when it comes to helping others. We're kind of lost when it comes to ourselves.
I think you bring up another great point; running out of stuff we do need. The truth is that our supplies and materials reproduce themselves when we aren't looking, the problem is that in a closed environment they over-populate and it's for their own health that we need to cull the herd a little. If you take the weaker of the species and use it up with abandon it will slow the reproductive cycle, leaving a healthier stock behind and creating a more spacious environment for your creative efforts. (This is also true for "skinny" clothes, wire hangers, paper clips, cooking gadgets, post-its and McDonalds toys.)
Maybe you could tack a few bits of poster board to the wall and stick your favorites onto it with the removable sticky dots? Then if you need it, use it and if you don't you still get to enjoy it (without it being lost, damaged or taking up too much real estate.) I have an inspiration board that is just cork board and tacks, where I move swatches of fabric and yarn around and stare at them, it's actually rather gratifying to see what I have to work with at a glance. I've also noticed that fabric I don't take a swatch from and tack up there hardly ever gets used. Maybe you could make a found object garden in a shallow box or tray to serve the same purpose?
And as you get decluttered you'll be able to anticipate shortages beforehand and be able to order or buy things as you need them-so combined with their natural tendency to reproduce you won't run out of anything vital and probably save a bunch of money in the process.
We are not alone. We are not slobs. We are not broken. Not a single one of us.
Ride on, silver spurs, ride on. Best, Wendy
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