I am a hoarder by nature. I can’t help it. I’m a Cancerian. I’m constantly asking myself the question, “to chuck or not to chuck?” Invariably, the answer is “not to chuck,” because I never know when I might need any given item.
Never has this been truer since we moved into our new home. We had a store room at our old place, which was chokkas, and there was no place for all the surplus stuff, in our hearts, or in our new home. I adopted a strict Feng Shui policy and what I didn’t need, didn’t love and didn’t use went on a one way ticket to the charity shop or was rehomed with friends. I was realistic and ruthless. As a result, everything from the old place fitted into the new one, and it’s now safe to open a cupboard without being buried under a junk avalanche.
However, I was left with a cunundrum. Actually, make that 4 bags of cunundrums. I still had all my “big” clothes to consider. When I came to Australia I looked like this…
…and tipped the scales at a hefty 86kg wearing UK size 18/20. I’ve always been ample but this Supersize Sam was in a league of her own. I bit the bullet, joined Weight Watchers and over the next 20 months, lost 22kg. But that’s a whole other blog post…
Losing the weight was so empowering and I loved buying new clothes to fit my ever-shrinking frame along the way. However, my weight loss journey has left me with 4 sackloads of clothes from UK size 14-20. Not much use now I’m a UK size 12!
However, I just couldn’t bear to part with my big ole’ threads. Secretly between you and me, I think I was scared I’d get my fat back, and I’d have no clothes to fit. Quelle horreur!
Inbetween doctors’ appointments the other week, I had a bit of an epiphany. Did you see last week’s Wordless Wednesday? I figured these clothes were part of my past, they had no part in my present. Neither did I want for them to be in my future. By hanging on to them, wasn’t I creating my own self fulfilling prophecy to grow back into them?
In the end making the decision to off load the excess baggage was the easy part. Finding someone who needed it was a little more difficult. There were so many clothes in them there bags, I wanted to give them to someone who really needed them, I wanted those clothes to count for something, other than a lot of weight watching. The Womens’ Shelter was top of my hit list, but they didn’t have storage space so they suggested I go back to my old friends at my local Vinnies.
I kept a few choice pieces that will be appearing on an ebay near you sometime soon! I figure with the money I make, I can treat myself to some new kit more my size.
I don’t have a crystal ball so I can’t say how I’ll shape up in the future. But rather than preparing to grow back into my plus size clothes, right now, I’m going to work hard and work out to stay out of them!
And you know what, once I got rid of all the blasts from the past, I just felt a whole lot lighter, not that you’d see it on the scales, of course. No amount of weight watching gives this feeling of light fantastic! Letting go is hard to do, but man, it feels good!
Are you a chucker or a hoarder? Do you like letting go?
