The Things In Your Boxes | Minimalism |

I am very fond of perfumes and I love to have a variety of them. When I was in school I received perfume as a gift. It wasn't a branded one but the fragrance was so amazing that it became my favorite perfume. I decided that this perfume was too special to be used daily as I knew I wouldn't get a second piece so easily. I did not even know where it came from. So I kept this perfume back in the box and waited for a special occasion to use it.

A year later came a special day and I decided to finally take my favorite perfume out. To my surprise, the bottle was half and the smell was not what I had expected. My perfume had gone bad and some of it had evaporated. My favorite perfume was gone without me ever using it. 

We all have these special things that never come out of the boxes waiting for special occasions, which sadly sometimes never come. Think about the special dress that still has its tag on, that beautiful bottle of champagne, the jewelry that is exceptional, the dinner set kept for just the right time, the shoes kept just for the right party. 

When I started to embrace minimalism I realized that I had so many of these boxes. So many special things were kept in the boxes waiting for the right time. Some kept for more than a few years. I remembered my favorite perfume and the fate it had gone through. This is when I decided to open these boxes and use what I had kept hidden for such a long time.

Our brains have been trained in such a way that we believe that our stuff is going to protect us in times of despair. We keep on gathering more and more stuff and we are very good at it. But what we are not good at is using this stuff. We use 20% of our stuff more than 80% of the time. The rest 80 % never meets its life goals of beings fully utilized.

The journey made me realize that being too special to be used is not the only reason we keep our stuff in the boxes. Some of them are never meant to be used, kept as memories of the past and some are just kept for the sake of a better future. Their fate is to be enclosed in that dark space and never see the light of day other than for the purpose of cleaning and organizing.

When I started looking through my boxes I found so many things that had not found their place and hence I decided to keep these boxes open. I took out the dresses I hadn't worn for a year and then I realized I probably would not wear them anymore. Some didn't fit, some were out of fashion and some just did not suit my personal style anymore. There were still a couple of dresses that I kept from the pile but I donated the rest.

I took out my collection of perfumes and decided to use them on regular basis just as per my mood for the day. I took out those special art supplies and paper and used them to make my journal pretty. I took out those pretty notebooks I had collected over a period of time and started writing the notes for my blogs and books. I took out my favorite jewelry every once in a while for a date night.  I took out the beautiful mug gifted to me by my youngest sister with our picture on it and I use it every day to have my morning tea to start my day with both our smiling faces. 

I made my special things a part of my life and that brought so much joy that I could never imagine, but more importantly, I decided not to buy any more stuff that would just sit in the boxes waiting for their special occasions.

Don't wait for special occasions to use your stuff. By this, I don't mean for you to go wear those stilettos and drink all your champagne. All I am saying is to find ways to celebrate the little things in life.

P.S. There is one happy news. I searched and searched and searched and finally, I found it. I found that favorite perfume of mine again and now I don't keep it in the box.