Shedding

i will turn 50 in 10 months. i have been thinking about that a lot since my 49th birthday in September. i've talked with friends who have set various goals before they turn 50 or the year after they turn 50. one decided that before she turned 50 she would do 50 things she had never done before. me... i think i am going to make it a goal to shed 50 things. there is something about making my life simpler that is just very appealing to me. maybe it was seeing my mom spend two summers and much anxiety over emptying out her home of "things" before she sold the house and the freedom she seems to have without that weight on her now. maybe it is my former neighbor who "couldn't move to st louis to live near her son" though she wanted to because "what would i do with my house and all my things." maybe it is because i spend a lot of my time managing things, when i really enjoy people. maybe it is because is see people i love with two houses full of more things than they could ever use and other people with dirt floors and hungry bellies. maybe it is because life is short and none of the things are going with me, only the relationships with those i love will last into eternity.

the idea started to gel after i ran across a website called www.throwoutfiftythings.com i am a saver by nature , so to just "throw out" things seems a little extreme. after some pondering and exploring i decided that "shedding" is a better term for what i have begun to do.
shed:(verb)
#1. radiate something - to radiate or disperse something, especially light
#2. cast off - to cast off a growing part such as leaves as a result of a natural process
#3. get rid of undesirable - to get rid of something that is unwanted or unnecessary
#4. repel or be repelled - to flow off or drop off, or cause something such as water to flow off or drop off

some things will be tossed (#3), some things will be recycled (#2) (like the leaves that are shed are recycled into into compost), some things will be left unclaimed by me (#4), some things will be given away (#1), and of course i'm sure you've guessed by now that all the things i'm shedding won't necessarily be things. :)

So now i begin:
1. i shed the need to do it "right". Immediately upon the idea gelling, i thought "i need to buy the book so i can be sure to do it 'right'." well, i didn't buy the book and i'm not going to buy the book. i don't need to read the book to do this. i can make this be mine and make it work for me without it having to be done "perfectly and 'by the book'". sometimes "perfect and 'by the book'" is essential in life and sometimes it isn't. #4. repel or be repelled

2.i shed over 400 e-mails that had piled up in my inbox #1. i have two e-mail addresses. there were e-mails in there from... well, let's just say they were really old. they are gone now. no more than 50 in there from now on. i'll ask my hubby to use my other e-mail as it's filing system is easier for me to use. #3. get rid of undesirable