My family room is strewn with toys and every room in my house has book shelves crammed with books somewhere. My walls are strewn with paintings and art and sometimes it is hard to find space on my kitchen counters and table. There are armatures of medical equipment interspersed.
And I love it.
Every place I look sparks my mind with a memory or an idea of some type. They flow into me bounce around my head and then craft other ideas or spur some action. I came to terms with my love of clutter years ago. I find it fascinating that it does indeed affect my mind.
Those minimalist gurus talk insistently around how a minimalist space clears the head. But for me that is a horrible place to be. I like to think, I like to have a million ideas milling about inside me debating and creating stories. When my head is blank I grow sad and depressed quickly, there is this numbness that comes over me and my brain becomes this wasteland. Everything slows to boredom. Life feels unreal and foriegn and as manufactured as those slick ads on tv with no real excitement or depths of understanding, just mindless trodding.
I clean and all my books are alphabetized and I do know where most things are. The thing is I take the time to clean a space to start new projects all the time. I also am mindful of what I use to clean with and what I spend my mind and time on.
Every once in awhile someone comes through, they always mention how comfortable my home is but at some point they will mention the clutter. It is thrown at me as some type of horrible character flaw. I laugh and apologize and walk away. I don’t go into how bored I would be at their homes or where do the hell do they keep all their books. How do you live without books? Or art supplies. What do they do when the power goes out, and things break? Where are their tools and sewing supplies?
I am constantly repairing something.
I once asked a friend about this particular hangup and they hit it pretty well, “Minimalism is a luxury of the rich. They can just replace anything, they don’t have to fix it.” I think that is the crutch of some of this. Years ago I went through and paired down my main collection to books, and entertainment. Things that can keep me occupied no matter what happened in my life. I do have a kindle collection and my book shelves use to be crammed 3 books deep. When I realized my daughter needed a wheelchair I paired everything down.
There are still books and bookshelves in every room.
When the pandemic hit I did run into a neighbor mentioning the harshness of constantly being home. Being a person parenting a child of disabilities, where I have gotten trapped home a lot I paused smiled and nodded with understanding. My response was “This might give you insight into why I keep my home the way I do.”
I always have something to do, I can reread a series I love, make some art, watch a show, repair something, make something or even clean.
Laugh out loud there is always something to clean.
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