The Gift of Letting Go of Clutter

Excitement was in the air as gifts were being selected for Christmas giving. My 16 year old daughter who has always been into environmental issues and working on making the earth a better place decided this one year she wanted a special watch. The face of the watch was a sepia/gold color of the world. The band was leather and she absolutely loved it.

I thought it was quite pricey but I decided I would buy it for her and that would be her big present. Every few weeks she would say how much she wanted that watch and would again show me a picture of it.

On Christmas morning gifts were being opened and there was laughter, hugs and ooos and awes when each gift was opened. My daughter opened the box with the watch in it and started to cry and she kept on crying. I wondered what on earth could be wrong, I was sure this is what she had wanted.

All she could do was cry and I became concerned that I had purchased the wrong watch. When she could talk she said she was just so happy because she got exactly what she wanted. (What a happy relief).

A few years later she came to me and gave me back this same watch she had loved so much. It was like new because she is extremely allergic to metal she never did wear it very much. When she put it on her wrist within 10 minutes she would have a bumpy red rash from the metal of the buckle.

She couldn’t wear it so she didn’t want it cluttering her drawers so she was going to give it away. I gasped and said she didn’t want to do that because she had loved it so much. “Here you can have it then” she told me.

I put it in my drawer with watches I use because I couldn’t just get rid of it. It needed a new battery which I knew I wouldn’t buy because I had no intention of wearing the watch. I couldn’t read the time very well because of the color of the face. But I told myself someday I would get a battery for it.

Some of the reasons I was keeping the watch was 1- it was expensive when I bought it, 2- my daughter had loved it so much, 3- all it needed was a battery and I could wear it, 4- maybe she would want it back some day.

This is a great example of how to declutter drawers, cupboards or other places in our homes. By keeping the watch I was keeping clutter in my drawer and living in the past. So what if it was expensive? The receiver got what she wanted, enjoyed it and let it go. It had been nothing to me other than giving someone something they wanted and would enjoy.

I didn’t love the watch, in fact just the opposite, I wouldn’t use it because it was hard to tell time on it and it was awkward for me to put on. I like the watches that only take a second to clasp on my wrist.

I rationalized that if it worked I would wear it, all the time knowing I really wouldn’t. Why waste money on something when I had no intention using it? Do you ever do this?

What was I thinking when I thought I would keep it “in case she wanted it back someday”? If she wanted it she could keep it and not give it to me.

I did keep the watch for a few months and one day when I was getting rid of clutter in the drawer I faced the fact that it was just clutter to me and I donated it to charity.

As I was clearing clutter in my jewelry drawer recently I thought of this watch and had to laugh that I had ever considered keeping it in the first place instead of just letting it go. That is sometimes how it is, we have to slowly let go of the clutter and when we’re ready we can do it.