How to Fill My Space

Emptying My Space to Fill it With the Right Things

Lately I have been reading a book by influential writer Gretchen Rubin called Happier at Home, the follow-up up bestseller to her even more popular book The Happiness Project.  In Happier at Home, Gretchen reminds herself over and over that “the days are long, but the years are short”.  Love it!

She decides that one of the paradoxes of happiness is that sometimes you have to “spend out to become rich”.  This is something I have decided to do ever since my baby arrived.  By “spend out” the author is referring to using up disposable items like razors and toothbrushes, utilizing new purchases such as putting brand new clothing in the rotation, and to generally stop saving things for a special occasion.  

However, while I found the book’s explanation perfectly poignant, the content that grabbed me the most was this paragraph from Rubin’s blog: “And spend out applies to creativity as well as to possessions. I find myself thinking, ‘I should save that story…’ or ‘I don’t want to use all my best examples now…’ But pouring out ideas is better for creativity than doling them out by the teaspoon.”  WOW!!!  That fits me to a T!  That is part of why I have a stockpile of posts for my blog and little on the blog to show for it!  Starting today I aim to spend out more and more every day…to rid my life space and living space of the things I no longer want or need and fill it with only the things I do!     

Yesterday I made lemon-flavored instant pudding for my husband.  He loves lemony desserts and so I thought this would be a special treat for him (which it was)…that and the fact that I actually made him a dessert (which I never do).  The thing is, I bought the pudding mix forever ago [don’t worry, we checked the expiration date] and I was saving it to make at another date TBD.  Ironically, the brand of pudding was called “Always Save.”  

And that’s what I do.  I always save everything.  And I mean everything!  I have a bit of a problem.  Not that I’ll be featured on Hoarders any time soon, because it isn’t that out of control and I plan on nipping it in the bud today and every day.  I have a couple different theories on why I save or savor everything, but I am not focusing as much on the “why” right now.  I’ll tackle that another day.  As for today, I’ll spend out.  Thanks, Gretchen, for this and many other life lessons.