Riding myself of stress, guilt and anxiety

For a long while, I toyed with becoming a professional organizer. I loved to organize small spaces and still do, but what do you do when you realize you have too much stuff?

It’s when I had that epiphany: what the heck am I doing? It seemed as if I was always on the hunt for a better way to organize what I had, when what I really needed to do was eliminate the stuff I was constantly shifting around.

Mind you, what I’m about to tell you happened years ago.

My creative space gave me anxiety and filled me with guilt. I had crafting supplies like nobody knows. I loved doing paper crafts, card making, rubber stamping, scrapbooking, decoupage – all of it. I had separate areas in our house in South Dakota for my paper crafting; I had an entire room just for that hobby, and my sewing and quilting were done in the formal dining room, with my machine and supplies hidden in specialty cabinets.

My husband received an assignment in the UK, and while I created another scrapbook nook in a tiny bedroom, my sewing was another story. I was once again a kitchen table sewist, having to pack everything up and put it away when our kids came home from school. Then my husband retired from his 22-year career with the Air Force, and we moved stateside.

All – and I mean all – of my paper crafting supplies were in storage, first for seven months while we were living in an apartment looking for a house, then in our basement for three years. My wonderful and loving Coffee Elf designed and built an amazing crafting space for me. I filled it with all of my crafting supplies – well, most of them. My stamping supplies had to be stored in the hallway outside of my Secret Garden. After more than three years in storage, I finally had a place for everything – well, sort of.

I found myself organizing and reorganizing my small space. If I wanted to do some paper crafting, I had to dismantle my entire setup to get to a few things; it was a labyrinth of specialty containers that looked great in photos, but were actually a pain to access my paper crafting supplies and tools. It became such a hassle that I just left my paper crafting supplies in those pretty containers, and I stopped doing paper crafting altogether. Every time I looked at the shelves where those containers were stored, I felt guilt for having those things, and it had turned into anxiety. My creative space was no longer my “zen place.” Things had to change.

My epiphany – I finally “got it”: Marie Kondo was right; keep what gives you joy and let go of everything else.

I needed to select something that gave me joy, and it was my old friends – quilting and needle arts. Once I made that decision, I had to do it like ripping off a bandage. I took photos of everything and contacted the local high school art teacher that my daughter liked – the art department took the majority of it, and they got me in contact with a group that worked with kids, and they took the rest. I gave them the organizers I had stored them in, and I felt good about my decision.

I’ve not once regretted my decision. My thought was – and still is – I’m not going to get any richer for keeping things I’m no longer using, and I’m not going to become any poorer for giving them away. I had enjoyed those things for many years, and it was time to pass that joy on so others could make things with tools and supplies they might not have access to otherwise.

Suddenly, my creative drive was back in abundance. I was once again feeling true joy in my creative space. My Secret Garden Sewing Room was always blooming with new projects.

I now make a habit of curating fabrics and supplies in my current Secret Garden Sewing room. I joined the “shop your fabric stash” movement and I’m better off for it.

There’s this gluttony in the quilting world that I don’t like – it’s the constant “build your stash” attitude.

Fabric Companies are almost constantly pushing fabrics at you without showing you projects that you could make with their fabrics, quilt shops are almost as bad. When did quilting become buying fabric for the sake of buying? It’s like those shoppers who went to JoAnn’s, with no clear projects in mind, they were just buying because the chain is going out of business. I read where a woman bought over 200 yards of fabric because – and I quote – “I might never get a sale like this again.” She also admitted that she doesn’t know where she’s going to put it all – that’s insane!

Just because it’s on sale doesn’t mean you need it or that you should bring it home.

My space works for me. No anxiety, no stress, just good vibes and creative energy. My words of advice- have a plan for your space, your projects, your tools, and your peace.