In 2007, I got rid of everything I owned and moved to Chicago with just what I could fit in a rental car (an antique trunk full of books and knick knacks, two suitcases of clothes and shoes, and my cat). Ever since then, I’ve been slowly accumulating more crap. In fact, when I moved back to New Orleans four years later, my ex-boyfriend and I packed an entire moving truck AND a jeep full of crap. A little over a year ago, we broke up and I moved into a 400 sq. ft. studio apartment. Over the past months, I’ve been slowly making strides to get rid of the excess crap that I’d collected over the last eight years.

In my life, I’ve accumulated a lot of spiritual and emotional baggage, and though I’ve done my share of physical purges, the one I’m currently on is the biggest yet. I feel like it’s probably the most important one of all, too, since the last eight years have been particularly hard on my emotions, harder than ever before, and this has impacted my physical self in ways I never would have thought possible. Over the past year, as my physical self has gone into further decline, I’ve taken the time to get stronger mentally. You could say that I made the choice to take some steps backwards in order to get my shit in order, knowing that once I was healed I’d be able to make much stronger, surer strides in the right direction. And I finally feel like I’m almost ready to start making power moves.

My first big directive, starting this week, is to get rid of everything in my physical realm that doesn’t make my life better. Clothes that no longer fit or were never really my style, costume parts that see the light of day every other year, books that I’m never going to read again, craft materials that I’m never going to use…you get the picture.

It’s time to be honest with myself. Am I too fat for these jeans? Craigslist. Is this artsy fartsy thing that I just had to have five years ago just collecting dust? Ebay. Am I really ever going to use any of these years-old spices in the cupboard? Trash can. My apartment is getting painted at the end of the week, so I’m making it my goal to have all of the things that I could probably make money off of listed on Ebay by the time the painter arrives, and anything that’s just taking up space and squashing my chance at getting this place feng shui is getting kicked to the curb.

I deserve better. It’s time to make things better.