Dead plants. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that all of you have dead plants you're holding on to.
My mother-in-law gave the hubs a Kindle Fire for Christmas... so he gave me his regular ol' Kindle... and since I'm a thrifty gal, I download about a million free Kindle books everyday. You've gotta love free. This month, there have been so many free books on decluttering, a topic about which I need to read.
My mother lives in clutter. I mean, I don't think she's thrown anything away in years... she's not a hoarder mind you. She keeps a tidy home but she doesn't get rid of much. Growing up in a cluttered home has made me paranoid that I'm going to head down the same path. These free books have been great to motivate me to declutter like a champ.
One of the free books talked about 'dead plants'. Of course, there are literal dead plants: the small plant that you got and intended to water and care for but for some reason, the leaves turned brown and you killed it. You just killed it. But we hold on to those plants. We believe that we can turn it around, if we only try hard enough. So we hold on to those dead plants, firm in the belief that if we give up on it, we have failed.
It's time to let the dead plant go.
And if we think about that same concept, we can find dead plants all over the place. My dead plants? Craft projects that went wonky. I know, you can hardly believe that I'm not totally perfect and that everything I do turns into sunshine and kittens.
You guys are so sweet.
I have trouble letting go of things. If that craft project didn't turn out well, I hold on to it, knowing in my heart that I can make it better, I just need inspiration, time, paint, glue, more chocolate. Can I just tell you that chocolate does not make everything better? I mean, we should still eat it... lets just not expect miracles.
So here's what I want to hear about from you: what are your 'dead plants'? I've been slowly but surely identifying my dead plants and letting them go. And it feels awesome.
Well, I have an actual dead plant that my husband and kids have been laughing about all weekend...so funny you should post this today. Then there are my paper pile "dead plants" and stuff I bought to make a project that I never did. I've got a lot of "dead plants" around here that I need to get rid of! :)
ReplyDeleteI, too, have an actual dead basil plant sitting on top of my microwave. The stem is still sticking straight up, and I have been defiant, because I followed all the directions. For a couple days, we had fresh basil leaves to snip to add to food, and it was wonderful. Alas, I shall let it go.
ReplyDeleteI also have a habit of keeping old utility bills, wanting to shred them before they go. Hmmm.
My dead plants, hmmm. Lately, I fee like everything around me is my dead plant..scraps of material that are maybe big enough to eventually use to make something...eventually. Items at Goodwill I've bought for a steal of a deal that I can't quite figure out if I can reuse, redo or re-sell. Oh, the list goes on and on.
ReplyDeleteI did this last summer - I had a bunch of "dead plants" (figurative ones) in my craft project pile and I finally let them go. It was a great feeling!
ReplyDeleteGreat post!! You really got me thinking....my dead plants are clothes and kid toys. I grew up in a household with 8 kids and 1 working parent. My mom kept everyone's outgrown clothing to pass on to the next kid because there were so many of us. I have such a hard time getting rid of my kids or my outgrown in nice shape clothing because I feel it'll fit the next kid or I can fit into that again (
ReplyDeleteit'll never happen...I'd have to become anorexic). Going to get rid of my plants!