4 Bags. Taking up Too Much Space in My Mind (and Closet)

4 bags.  I went through my closet yesterday and released myself of 4 bags of clothes, belts, purses, and shoes cluttering up my closet, and my mind.  4!

If you were to look into your closet, drawers, plastic bins or under the bed storage containers, how many jeans, dresses, skirts, shirts, belts…. how many things are you holding on to for the “one day this might fit” or the “one day I might have a use for this” occurrence?

As women, how many of us struggle with disconnecting our self-worth with the size of our clothing or the number on the scale?  So how is seeing clothes that do not fit any longer on a daily basis helpful in making this disconnection?

I have played this game for years.  I have moved clothes back & forth as seasons have changed, and brought the same clothes up/down stairs or moved from closet to closet, thinking one day I will fit back into those amazing pair of Ann Taylor dress pants or the Elie Tahari dress I bought for a charity event at my work over a decade ago.  I held on to them because they’re “classics” and I am charmed by the “what if I eventually lose the weight I want to lose”…then I will be able to wear these items again.  That mind-set isn’t helpful & doesn’t serve me anymore.

The truth is this.  As much as I thought having the reminder of how lovely each of these items were, and seeing them in my closets, would help me to eventually “fit” back into them, it actually had the reverse impact and served as a constant reminder of how badly I was failing at losing the weight so I could wear these items of clothing again.  This game I played in my head almost served as a measuring stick for my happiness….if only, if only I could do more than squeeze back into these clothing items, then all would be peaceful & joyful in the world.  It has nothing to do with happiness…but it was a concept I was buying into for years.

So 4 bags.…Gone.  This is how I did it.

First….

(1) Does it currently fit?

If answer is no, then into a trash bag to be donated to charity it went.  No.  Further. Discussion.  None.

If yes, it went into a separate pile for next evaluation….

(2) If yes, does it?

Serve a purpose (like yoga or running clothes) or make me feel good when I’m wearing it?

If yes, then back into drawers or closet.

If the answer was “no”, then into a trash bag it went to be donated to charity it went.  No. further. Discussion.  None.

4 bags.  

My closet is sparse.  My drawers in my dresser are much more organized and spacious.   But most importantly and significant, the negative chatter that would often happen in my brain when I would stare into my closet was silent this morning.

I was texting a friend of mine about my plan the other day, and she said she did the same thing!  And to her surprise, she began to lose weight soon after.  Now, if that happens, AWESOME!  But if it doesn’t…. I still feel so much more at peace knowing I was able to donate 4 bags of clothing etc that no longer served me to charity so someone else may benefit, and I was not constantly being reminded of an arbitrary ideal that I was striving for that truly has NOTHING to do with how happy I am or how successful I am in life.

Today… I sat out in the sun and ordered a few more items to fill the void in my closet that actually will fit me and will fuel my confidence rather than undermine it.  Until there is a day when we walk into the doctor’s office & their first request (after insurance and ID) is “Can you step on the scale please” and clothing stores replace their “sizes” with things like:

 

It’s up to all of us to seek our self-worth beyond the number on the scale and the size printed on the back of our clothing items….

Peace…….