It must be age..........

I am not pregnant. I am not moving. It's definitely not Spring! It must be age.

I will turn 55 at the end of this month and I have the strongest Nesting Instinct I have ever had. According to an article on the nesting instinct during pregnancy,this is an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world.

 That is right where I am at, except of course the part about preparing a nest for a baby! I am not sure what is motivating me or what I am preparing for but I need to do this. I can't seem to get myself motivated to take the rest of the Christmas decorations down but I am itching to clean everything else out!

If you knew me well, you'd know that I am a pack rat. If it ain't broke, keep it, store it, you will need it. Throwing things away is never my immediate plan. It usually works out for me and I take the greatest pleasure when I get to tell my husband about another item I rescued from the basement or attic from 16 years ago that I found a use for.

I live in a pretty big house with a full attic and a full basement. My husband and I combined two houses about 16 years ago. So there is all of that, most of which is mine (he is a throw-it-away kinda guy) and then the 16 years of accumulation since. There is plenty of room to store stuff, so why throw it away?

I have not done any deep evaluation of my life or where it is heading or even set any goals for the new year. I simply FEEL the need to get rid of the clutter in my life....actually both the material stuff and the clutter in my head. That is why I truly believe that it is age that is prompting this, because I am now at a point where I am okay with getting rid of things. That really has been the issue all along.....the emotional part of parting with my stuff.

There are the pros and cons though. On the con side, (1)will I regret parting with some things if in the future I realize I really need it? (2)It is a lot of hard work to sort, pile and cart out to the garbage. On the pro side (1) anyone out there looking for some really cool vintage stuff will find it in my  NaNa's Things Etsy shop. I opened the shop for just that reason and so far I am okay with what I have decided to sell. (2)I will have a cleaner, lighter feeling house. And this may sound a bit morbid, (3) but when I die it will be a lot less stuff for my husband and kids to go through. I am not confident they will be as particular about it all as I would, so best to get it done now!!

I am not a procrastinator. I will get it done. I just had to talk about it, get it out in the open and have it in writing.

As far as the clutter in my head....well, I have a Lord and Savior in my life, Jesus Christ, that I can give that all to and He'll take care of  it for me.