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【英文原文】
Simplifying Life, One Goodbye at a Time
Sometimes I think how simple life would be if only simple living meant filling garbage bags with clutter to donate, give away or sell. It’s such a great feeling to fill bags with outgrown clothes, unused gadgets, and stuff that is no longer useful or beautiful in this home and this life.
I dream of a life in which the only clutter was physical – stuff filling the space that I can see. But, it’s not. So much of what complicates life is internal. Feelings, relationships, the mental lists we make, the thoughts that just don’t stop.
It helps to take out the literal garbage bags. It helps to physically remove things from life that just aren’t working. After removing those things, the other stuff – the stuff you can’t see – becomes more apparent.
It is so hard to say goodbye, whether it’s to an old ticket stub to a first date movie or a stuffed animal grandma gave you when you were 8 or a friend who is just not working. It’s a lot easier to shove a stuffed animal into a black bag and take it to Goodwill than it is to say goodbye to a friend. You don’t have to say goodbye to friends or people that aren’t working, though. You can say goodbye to resentment. You can say goodbye to the negative feelings. You can say goodbye to the mental clutter. Right along with the bags full of too small jeans, little kid shoes, and outdated decor. Life can be simplified, one goodbye at at time.
A life of goodbyes doesn’t look or feel empty. By saying goodbye to the things that don’t work, or fit, or make a fulfilling life, just think of all the space being made for new wonderful, fulfilling, beautiful experiences, people and things. With each goodbye is an opportunity for a new hello. A hello you may never have expected but that may just be the one you need.
