Holy purge.
As in, holy purge, Batman.
I just spent the past 48 hours on a wild purging spree.
It came out of nowhere. Seriously.
We arrived home on Sunday afternoon after a nice weekend away and, with laundry to do and emails to answer and tasks to complete and TIVO’d programs to catch up on, for some reason I decided it was the PERFECT time to tear apart my office and set about to pouring through every little file, picking through piles of clutter, and trashing absolutely anything that wasn’t necessary.
This was no small task. I had 5 file cabinet drawers packed to the gills with everything from research for book projects, copies of correspondence from interviews I’ve conducted over the years, content I’ve created for my freelance clients, letters from teens, and more.
I wasn’t hoarding, but for some reason, it felt necessary that I keep all these records and documents…just in case. In case of what? I’m not exactly sure. Perhaps I believed that holding onto all these papers was important…part of my job as a business owner and as an author. And even though over the years I’ve thinned out the files as best I could, there were some things I wasn’t ready to let go of.
But in the past few months, and perhaps magnified by my inspirational weekend at Power Boost Live!, something in me shifted. I’ve got fresh things to create, new projects to develop, more books to write. And I needed to make the space, not only in my head, but in my office, to support those new creations. If my filing system was a fashion statement, it would be so 2002. It was time to be fashion forward, to let go of the old and make room for newness in my work and life.
I started my purging spree around 3pm on Sunday and finished last night around 10pm (minus time for meals, parenting, and the presidential debate). But here I am, Tuesday morning, with a clean, organized, ready-to-go workspace.
So I’m going to get to it.
My challenge for you this week? Look around your work space and see if there are things you’re holding onto that don’t play a role in your life anymore. Would purging them help pave the way for new creative projects to emerge?
OMG – I did the same thing – though a bit smaller scale! Held back on the files b/c the cabinets are on two separate floors. Weeded otu books, cds, photos, supplies etc. I decided the writing will go more smoothly with less clutter – physical and otherwise! Hope your new digs helps you soar!
Awesome…doesn’t it feel GOOD? Now it’s time to write on!!
I’ve been thinking about this, mulling it over … and am close to action time. SO many NYT magazines, for starters, and I really do think I might just read them one day. Thanks for the inspiration and for sharing your thoughts.
You’re welcome, Mary! I know all about holding onto magazines… At one poing I had about 5 years worth of Sunset Magazine because I kept intending to go through and rip out recipes I wanted to make. But I never actually did that. Plus they’re all online anyway. So out they went!