The past year has brought many changes. The latest is that I’m finally packing up and moving house.

I also hope to shift bad habits with the move. I particularly want to leave behind my shopping addiction. I really want to knock this bad habit on the head. I want to find real peace and happiness in life. I know deep down this doesn’t come from money and material goods.

As I hurriedly pack and throw all my stuff together I am trying to hold myself together at the same time. I gaze in amazement at all the possessions I have accumulated over the years. Items include reams of paper, drawers full of jewellery and heaps of clothes. There are also shelves of books and towers of CDs. I feel I am drowning in “stuff”.

Tired and overloaded

I feel as tired and overloaded as my cupboards. They rudely answer me back in their own special language. “I’ve had enough,” they seem to creak and groan. On one occasion a shelf ledge refused to take any more. Big screws had to be drilled in it for it to behave. I now realise it is time for me to behave. I need to show some restraint when it comes to shopping.

Shopping certainly plays mind games and nasty tricks on me.  I make many unnecessary purchases. I also buy more of the same items I already have.

Make a difference

As part of moving on, I am trying to give things away. I feel better giving things to those less fortunate. I hope I can make a difference to their lives. I recently gave away a whole bag of makeup to a friend. It was beautiful to see the pretty lipsticks put a smile on her face. Her eyes lit up with the makeup. I could see that I had made her day much less grey. She certainly was “tickled pink”!

Another good experience was giving away many of the necklaces I had collected. It made my life no longer seem so complicated and entangled. I also felt I had made a strong link with others that I wouldn’t have made otherwise.

Glad to give

I have given away many books and clothes to opportunity shops. I feel glad to give to others not so fortunate. I hope they get pleasure and enjoyment from them. Giving away nice things gives me more happiness than keeping a whole shop full of things to myself. 

In the end, life comes down to sharing and caring rather than consuming. I want to stop filling myself up with inanimate objects. I now realise this is not the point to life. I strive to make people, not things, the object of my affections.

 

Do you have a new year’s resolution? Share it with other DiVine readers in the comments section below.

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