Reality Check

Clients frequently ask about the mind-set that keeps me on the de-cluttered path. They know I had been a pack-rat who has lived a de-cluttered life since the 80’s.

What helps me maintain a clutter-free lifestyle over the long haul? Ponder this!

In her 1998 book A Patchwork Planet, Anne Tyler featured Barnaby Gaitlin who is employed by the company, Rent-a-Back, Inc. While cleaning out the possessions of someone who had died, he paints us this picture of reality on pages 284-285:

“Every now and then, in this job, I suddenly understood that you really, truly can’t take it with you. I don’t think I ordinarily grasped the full implications of that. Just look at all the possessions a dead person leaves behind: every last one, even the most treasured. No luggage is permitted, no carry-on items, not a purse, not a pair of glasses. You spend seven or eight decades acquiring your objects, arranging them, dusting them, insuring them; then you walk out with nothing at all, as bare as the day you arrived.”

This is what I call “a reality check.”

Neither you nor I will take any thing with us. I don’t want to burden an innocent person with the work of cleaning up after me, do you?

Because I don’t want to leave a mess, I keep my possessions in order, de-clutter regularly.

Because I don’t want to make extra, gruesome work for anyone, I put my affairs in order and simplified them so they are easy to understand.

Because, in case of my sudden illness or an accident, I want people to be able to find information needed for my care without added stress, I maintain important information in an easy to decipher filing system.

These are my responsibilities. I accept these realities and act accordingly.

I’ve never seen a hearse followed by a U-Haul, have you?

How about you? Have you accepted this reality? Good. Now, act accordingly.