It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything in the “Life” section of this blog. In case you didn’t notice, “Life” is for any post that doesn’t cover politics, Americana, television or the OpinionLists. In other words, it’s the “everything else” section. Sometimes I think of it as the blog’s trash can. This doesn’t have anything to do with the quality of the posts (I hope), but with the fact that the section holds a mishmash of subjects.
Currently the section’s home page is featuring posts about sex (Most Men Suck In Bed, Why Do Most Men Suck In Bed?), about Pope Benedict (On Pope Benedict: Forgive Me If I Withhold My Benediction), on the fact that Women Don’t Find Penises Sexy, and on the Books & TV I read/watched this summer.
So, why not write a post about certain realizations I had while I was cleaning out my closet? For the sake of full disclosure, I did more than clean out my closet. I moved. No, not to a new house, although it certainly felt like it. I decided to swap rooms around. The old master bedroom is the new office. The old office is my new [big] walk-in closet, adjacent to my new bedroom (which used to be the boys’ playroom). In case you’re wondering, I’m not feeling guilty about appropriating their space. These days all they care about is soccer, video games, and soccer video games. They don’t need a playroom for that.
But anyway, it’s pretty amazing how philosophical one can get while moving and cleaning out stuff. Here’s what I realized about:
1. Life: Wallis Simpson, the woman who turned a king’s head to such an extent that he abdicated his throne, told us “You can never be too rich or too thin.” While I certainly don’t agree with anorexic thinness, I get her point, and I add: you can never have too big a closet. The first time you see all your clothes, your shoes and your bags by doing a 360° turn is a wondrous experience. The pleasure of pulling out a dress without having to wrestle it out and without the fear that something will fall on your head, is a life-changing experience.
2. Organization: “A place for everything and everything in its place,” is a great motto that I’ve always lived by (you should see my drawers). But, let’s face it, “a place for everything” requires space for everything. I’ve actually become neater since I have my walk-in closet. Since it’s easy for me to hang up my clothes, I no longer leave them piling up on the bedroom chair. This makes me happy because I also believe that you can never be too organized.
3. Clarity: The fact that now I can see everything I have led me to find a pair of brown boots that I had forgotten about. But it has also shown me that I have nothing to wear, and that’s before I get done with sorting and donating. For starters, the brown boots will have to go. I wore them for one morning and got a blister.
4. Self-Discovery: Never label yourself negatively, there’s usually a good reason for your actions. Case in point, I used to spend a lot of time in my bedroom, in bed. In fact, many a post on this blog has been written halfway under the covers. I thought that I was somewhat lazy, but it didn’t bother me too much. There’s something to say for laziness. The guy who got tired of getting up to change his TV channels came up with the brilliant idea of the remote control. But, then I started thinking that I might be depressed. After all, there’s a lot to be depressed about considering the state of our country’s disunion. As it turns out, it was neither. The reason I spent so much time in my bedroom was because the room is very bright. Since it is now my office, that’s where I’m at most of the day, at a desk.
5. Consumerism: We Americans buy way too many things. We can feel guilty about that, or we can look at it in a more optimistic way. Consumerism not only stimulates the economy, it makes us into better human beings. How? By leading us to donate our things to those less fortunate (when we clean out our closets). Now, what could be wrong about that? The way I see it, nothing, absolutely nothing. But, then again, I could be totally high on my new walk-in closet.