Let Go - One Mans Trash Should Probably Just Be Thrown Away

No, this post is not dedicated to the ever popular Frozen movie, nor it's theme song. Honestly, I've not even seen the movie or heard the song yet, though I expect this to be fixed soon. 

Today I was blessed to spend several hours with my beautiful sister-in-law and cutie pie nephew on a bargain hunting adventure. 

Every year one of our local communities, Apple Valley, holds their garage sales. There are literally sales on every corner, full of all sorts of things from antiques to, well, TRASH.

The saying goes, "One mans trash is another mans treasure" Well, I'm here to tell you, that one man should probably just throw his junk away and stop trying to shove it on everyone else. 

There's another saying that comes to mind that, I feel, is relevant "ain't nobody got time for that"

I cannot tell you how many people were trying to sell things that should have just been placed in a dumpster (several years ago, at that). I'm talking about worn out shoes, broken coffee mugs, stained clothing... Give these things away, sure - if someone wants to take them. But trying to sell them... not even I am interested in your chipped black coffee mug for $0.50 or your worn to the soul shoes for $2

Every year AV holds these sales and every year you see people put out the same things as the year before. This begs the question, WHY? Their basements and garages must be full of items they no longer want but aren't willing to admit that no one else sees any value in. These items could be donated to homeless shelters, or simply thrown away, but instead they are held onto - kept alive to fight another garage sale. 'Maybe next year we will get our $0.15 for that broken picture frame.'

*I will say, we found some sick deals today. I spent less than $40 on three DVD's, a like new walker, two toys, two dressy outfits (pants, button down shirts, vests), a sweatshirt with his daddy's number on it, and a nice top for Barrett along with a sweet leather jacket and Adidas running jacket for myself. My sister bought a motorized Hummer for my nephew for $20, among the many other deals she found today.  Ahhh... shopping high. Nothing like bargain hunt success! - Oh, and hunting in a pack is that much more satisfying :) 

Anyways, back to my point. 

We are all holding onto things that we should be letting go of. Whether it's time to pass them along to the next person who can use them or time to throw them away completely. The fact is, it's time to let go. 

No, I'm not just talking about that pair of shoes you haven't worn for the last five years or those pair of jeans you've convinced yourself you'll fit into again. Not the power tool given to you for Christmas that you have every intention of basing a project around. Not that god awful necklace that matches nothing...yet. Though you may want to consider having a garage sale yourself if any of this rings a bell. 

...Did I mention we will be having a massive garage sale ourselves in the next few weeks?...

I'm talking about attitudes, mindsets, experiences. 

We all have experiences we've learned from, advice that has seen us through many a hard time, treasured memories and lessons learned, that we want to pass along to others so that they too may benefit from them. These are sale table worthy things, the type of things that people are searching for, that are desired, collected, placed on a shelf with a light hanging over them to accent their importance... you get the idea. 

We also have junk -  hurt, painful experiences/words, that we carry and, sometimes, try to unload onto other people. These things need to be placed where they truly belong - in the dumpster. 

Spring cleaning dons an entirely new and, let's face it, more satisfying meaning when we apply it to more than just our home. It's time to clean out our personal lives, polishing what we value enough to hold on to, releasing what my benefit others, and throwing away all that hinders us from moving freely in our lives.