The Incredible Shrink - a lighter load

Feb 16, 2010

If you were to peek inside my closet right now, you might get the sense that someone has recently packed up everything and left. For every hangar with something on it there are six that hang empty. My drawers are cavernous. When did I ever need so many clothes that my closet and my dresser drawers were overstuffed beyond capacity?

Yes, the clothes were larger than they are now, but not that much larger.

I’ve become a ruthless reducer. Anything that doesn’t fit, or that fits but doesn’t make me smile when I see it on me gets tossed unceremoniously into a pile in the corner of the room. Every two weeks or so I stuff my discarded history into a contractor bag and trek to Goodwill where I’m now on a first-name basis with the young man at receiving.

The clothes I have purchased have either been Goodwill finds (where else can you unearth a Chico jacket for $7?), or exceptional sale items taken from the “Last Chance!” rack just before the season changes. I’ve exchanged sensible unisex shoes for pant-boot heels that are a full size smaller than the ones I’ve hauled away.

It feels good to become lighter, both figuratively and literally. If I were to try to pick up two 50-pound bags of rice at the grocery store, I wouldn’t be able to do it. I’m curious what it would feel like to have them balanced on my shoulders … to take a stroll around the store like that, 100 pounds heavier.  Just nine months ago, that’s what I was walking through my day with … every day.

The empty closet makes me feel powerful. The heels make me feel powerful. In fact, walking makes me feel powerful. The simple act of moving… makes me feel powerful.

Change does that to you, doesn't it? Once you get past the fear, I mean. I'm going to do my best to remember that.

And, uhmmmmm.. oh, yeah. Tonight a man told me I had a great ass. :)

0 Comments