The Red Pill Moment

I used to take a Dictaphone in to the bathroom when having a bath. I came up with some of my best solutions to things when in the bath, as paper gets soggy, recording the thoughts was the best option. There is nothing like relaxing in a bath staring at the ceiling and letting your mind go to wherever. Likewise, sitting free of work for 6 weeks watching the world go by after my surgery was like having a very long bath and allowed me to think on things.

As mentioned in the previous post, my intention was to get some meaningful hobby work done while I was laid up. Easy stuff to do while immobile as all I needed was my iPad, Affinity Designer and some reference books. Problem was the books were buried in the pile of boxes in the cellar and had been since July 2020 after our flood. Procrastination had thwarted my plan.

The cellar was a 'must get round to it' issue over the last few years. The fact that the insurance claim had not been settled until April 2024 and we had to find contractors to do he repairs had not been conducive to sorting the place out. Each time I ventured down to start, the sheer number of boxes to go though made me give up. Plus over time junk and 'rubbish' had been put down there as we would be 'taking it to the recycling centre soon'. However, soon had never arrived. It was a Catch 22 scenario, until it was cleared the work could not start, but there was no room to clear it as we had filled up the space needed to sort with more stuff.

We had done the preventative repairs to be fair. The source of the problem had been identified and countered in August 2024, so the possibility of the same thing occurring in the future had been attended to. What remained was the getting the cellar usable again, putting the floor back and making it useful once more. For this to happen I had to sort out the 'stuff'.

So, while sitting and watching the world go by I came to the realization that all this 'stuff' in the cellar was dragging me down mentally. It was a constant shadow over my life. I knew I had to do something, but there was so much stuff to sort through. By chance I saw a video on You Tube about de-cluttering - I can't remember who it was by - but it was my Red Pill moment. I saw the reality of my situation and I dived down the rabbit hole of videos, podcasts and blogs on de-cluttering and minimalism.

Additionally, while I was bemoaning the amount of 'stuff' I had to go through my wife (the ever pragmatic and responsible adult in my life) pointed out that when we retire and move to the dream house, we'd never be able to buy one big enough to fit all my things in. That was another point to nail home the problem. I have so much more than I need. Most of the stuff in boxes down there I don't know I have as I have not seen it - nor really needed most of it - in the last 4 or so years.

In my post operative condition I could not hope to tackle the cellar - so i resolved that after Christmas it would begin. I did, however, make some inroads. I went through my wardrobe and got rid of anything that did not fit me anymore, stuff that was worn out or damaged and anything I just did not ever wear. My wife and I went through the kitchen and did a 'top' level de clutter, discarding broken items, junk, expired tins, spices etc., reducing plates, mugs, bowls and so on. We discovered we had enough space and there were worktops there too!

When it came time to bring out the Christmas decorations, we went through these, keeping only what was wanted, discarding the rest. We ended up with some empty storage bins as a result, and therefore a little more space.

Three little wins but it was a start and it felt good to be underway. I also rediscovered or rekindled my Buddhist leanings which is also a good thing. The realization that we just have too much stuff has allowed me to move the shadow of the cellar a little and bring in more room in my mind for things that are more worthwhile. I had, without knowing it, slipped back to a time before with stress and a washing machine mind diverting my attention away from looking real happiness and contentment. Hopefully 2025 will see me realizing the physical part of all this as I reclaim the cellar!