Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Lent gifting day 36

It's not long until the forty day Lent challenge will be over and it's getting harder to say goodbye to stuff. 

Like my biggest stuffed toy penguin called Patience.
 
 Super cuddly, Patience has been with me through some rough times. And I just know how happy she will make some little person who needs support of their own through rough times. A foster care system could be one of those times. This is the penguin for the job. 

I have decided to keep only my three favourite stuffed toys with me. One of whom is "photo bombing" the above picture. My red Welsh dragon who will stay with me still. Dragons are signs of protection in some mythology. Weirdly since I've had the dragon I've slept better. 

I also have two bears: one is big and one is small. The largest toy is called AJ and is the teddy bear from my child hood. That big bear has been with me through it all. That bear has seen more salt water than the Dead Sea, in the form of tears. And also been there through some of the most amazing moments of my life. I feel like we have seen thick and thin together. Or better and worse. Hahaha. 

Then there is my new favourite called Cuddles who has been the bear I've had for the last 10 years. He was given to me by my mum in England when she was leaving me there to do my undergraduate exchange program. Cuddles was there for me when I needed a cuddle from my mum but she was too far away to give me one in person. As such Cuddles has been my "travel bear". He's been around the world with me a couple time now. 

You might think it's weird that a 31 year old woman would want to keep stuffed toys. I am just not ready to let them go to new homes just yet. But the idea of someone loving them as much as I do makes it easier thinking about passing them on. When I get rid of all the toys in the bigger toy collection of which Patience the penguin is a part I will see how I cope without having those cuddly toys for comfort. Then maybe one by one I'll give my favourites to new homes or maybe not. I guess it depends how I cope without them.

When I started my whole dejunking thing I just wanted to pair down what I had, not get rid of everything I own completely. One of the things The Minimalists talk about is that "Minimalism looks different to everyone because everyone is different." I agree. I want to get rid of the superfluous things in my life to focus on the most important things for me. My three favourite soft toys are bringing me joy and providing value to my life, so I will keep them. When they stop doing those things I will give them away. I want to  have time, energy and money to look after and enjoy the things i already have. So that I can enjoy them fully and appreciate them completely. Fingers crossed I'll get the balance of keeping and soccarding. I want to get my head & physical space clear so that I can achieve the things I want to most in my life. Like travelling. There is so much I still want to achieve in my life. I have barely even started! 

What are the things you would do if you didn't have anything to stop you (like money, time, etc). And would you do them today if those barriers didn't exist? If not, why not? 
What would you sacrifice to have those dreams become a reality? Could you give up a coffee out every week to put more money toward a holiday? Could you give up buying any new clothing for a year to lower your debts or save for the things you really love? Could you sacrifice Netflix or cable tv if it meant that that money and time could go to doing something else you wanted to do? 

I hope I've given something to you to think about. Rmemever to be kind to one other. 

Love Daena x

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