in tiny, feeble increments

 This whole weekend has been amazing. Four whole days with absolutely no work….and very little financial expenditures.
A whole lot of room for quiet. For relaxing. Existing.

I did a lot of "late summer cleaning". By that, I mean "decluttering".
I ransacked all of my apartment boxes — tears sprang to my eyes when my laundered bath mats still managed to smell like the apartment — and tossed an entire box full of junk I don’t need. I sifted through my clothes and purged even more shirts I don’t wear. Out went my four or five purses when I really only need one. Goodbye to my heavy glass containers that are way more effort to cart around than they are worth. Goodbye to my in-text copies of books that are unnecessary and take up too much space.

The "minimalism movement" is something that has been of interest to me for a number of months now, and I am finally immersing myself — ok, just a toe or two — in it. It is not really about owning the least amount of material goods you can — just limiting your purchases and ownership to just the things that meet your needs on a consistent basis. It makes me happy — and is also a great challenge for me.

I try not to preach about it to my closest friends and family, but it’s hard.

I bought a dresser yesterday, finally, a tall chest of lightwood drawers. It was both beautiful and cheap and I’ve been searching for many weeks for one, so once it was spotted, it was in my possession shortly thereafter. It weighs very little as well, which made hauling it down the basement steps a breeze.

I was very much a voracious reader over the weekend, devouring at least two novels. Of course they were love stories because I find serious topics to be tedious and boring on most occasions. I also played Oblivion on Dustin’s XBOX for a few hours, which did well to ease my withdrawals and boost my mood.

I need to get into the smoothie mindset more because it helps to fill in the spots of my terrible eating habits. I was nearly to my goal weight of 120 lbs until I stopped working out or eating consistently. I don’t have an eating disorder, I am just lazy and evidently lackadaisical about my health. Sigh. One of these days I will get on, and stay on, the right track.

Other than that, not much to report. The plan to move fell through, and I was pretty depressed about it for a few days. But these things often happen for a reason. After bemoaning my fate for a few painstaking hours, I spurred myself into mental action, trying to devise ways to alter my (mostly financial) situation. The only thing I can think of that will save my integrity as well as provide me with an income suitable enough to live on my own (as originally intended), I will have to work third shift at a factory. I don’t really see a way around it at this point, especially with my student loans looming and current expenses racking up. Not sure how I will make it work but I have to. Limited choices.

I hope everyone is well — for right now, I am doing just fine.

Bouncing back from all the self-inflicted tragedy this year.

love <3