Joyfulgiving366 – Days 60 to 61 – slowing giving

The giving pace slowed a bit, but I’m still continuing to give things away in a meaningful and intentional way.

Some days are not giving days

Some days I don’t give away anything – and I’m alright with that. When I started this challenge on 30 December 2019, I thought I would be able to give away exactly one item a day. I soon realised that giving goes in fits and starts – some days you are able to declutter a lot and then you give away a lot. Other days there are no takers. And I suspect that when we get into winter, the pace of gifting will slow down only to speed up in spring.

But even when I’m not giving things away, I’m noticing more and more where things are in our place and making an effort to keep tidy and neat. Hubby had a white, plastic mini-bin beside his bed. It had been there for months. Actually, I think it had been there since he had a cold last winter. It wasn’t serving a purpose any more – it was just clutter.

I put it in the dishwasher to give it a good clean, and we then put it in the fridge where it serves as our new compost container. We use it to store scraps we are collecting for Sharewaste – or for my inlaws. Bonus is we are using up some eco-friendly green bags. We used them thinking they would go into our apartment’s new green waste bin only to find out that we can only put leaf litter in there.

Wednesday was not a giving day. I did not give away a single thing. But I was okay with that.

But then I gave something away on Thursday.

Earrings

Some readers may remember my fabulous silver amethyst earrings. I really loved them. I felt an affinity to them. And then – I gave them away.

What happened is that I shared them on the I Love to Op Shop Facebook group. This is a fabulous, supportive group of nearly 50,000 people who regularly share their Facebook treasures. As soon as I put up my picture, a member of the group shared how her mother – who has since died – gave her a similar pair but that she has now lost them. So I decided to send them to her.

This is not an ‘I am such a generous person’ post. Hubby thinks I am weird. Specifically, he reminded how much I really liked those earrings (he got sick of me parading around saying ‘I really love these earrings’) and told me that it is not my job to make everyone in the world happy – including people I don’t even know.

But I felt it was the right thing to do because if I’d lost something that reminded me of someone that I loved, and I then got back something that reminded me of them, I would feel that it was meaningful and significant. Not that things in themselves bring happiness, but it’s a lovely feeling when they remind you of someone you love. So I channelled that love, even though deep down I didn’t really want to give those pretty earrings away. Yep, I was struggling with feeling attached rather that non-attached to ‘stuff’. Or maybe on some level, I don’t feel that I totally deserve nice things. I don’t know. A lot to think about.

Anyway, I managed to give away

1. One pair of silver amethyst earrings.

Have you ever lost something that reminded you of someone special who is no longer in your life?