Every year I look forward to my annual springtime ritual. While Mother Nature gets to work rebirthing the Earth, putting leaves on trees and flower petals on stems, I get to work rebirthing my closet. Out with the cold and in with the warm weather clothing. I happily remove all the coats, heavy jackets, sweaters, scarves, gloves, and cold weather hats in my closet and transfer them to their new homes to make room for my summer wardrobe. One by one, I decide which items should be packed neatly into labeled storage boxes, hung up in the hall closet, or dropped off at local charities. I love organizing my closet. It’s therapeutic and a hell of a lot cheaper than therapy. My husband once joked that organizing my closet was my version of gardening. Since your hands don’t get dirty touching clothes, I think it’s even better.
This year, my beloved springtime ritual felt different. That’s because during the 2020 winter of virtual school, curbside pickup, telehealth visits, and Netflix binging, I had subconsciously whittled down my wardrobe to include only Zoom appropriate clothing, hockey-practice-watching attire, and look-put-together-but-not-overdressed-when-I-need-to-leave-the-house outfits. My self-imposed stay (mostly) at home order made me realize how little I really need so when the mega task of reorganizing my closet came around, I found I didn’t have the usual attachment to items in my closet. Spoiler alert! I am not adopting a capsule wardrobe anytime soon, nor am I becoming a minimalist. I am, however, being intentionally more selective in my life. I decided I only want/need the essentials with a few extra pieces to keep my wardrobe interesting. Goodbye black sequin halter and velvet fedora!
While adding item after item to my charity donation boxes, my mind wandered to a healthy place. If I’m going to simplify my wardrobe, I might as well do the same for other areas of my life. I sought out the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown (okay, listened to on Audible). It was a fascinating read. While I have no intention of diving into the deep end of minimalism, I am now asking myself some questions around what I find to be essential as I move into this new chapter of my life. So far, I’m loving the extra physical space and headspace.
With the glimmer of light shining from the end of this pandemic tunnel as we get closer and closer to herd immunity, and with our collective eagerness to come out of hibernation, have you put much thought into how you want to live your life moving forward? There’s no better day than the present to do a little spring cleaning of your thoughts, activities, habits, and possessions that no longer serve you.
