Merry Holidays! (and a New Perspective on Life)

Whatever holidays you are participating in (or not), may it be a safe and warm one, filled with food, loved ones, and good times.

I'm happily at home with my family (first time in over twelve years they didn't go Christmas camping), enjoying good food and nursing a cold in its infancy. To be fair, I think it was inevitable that I would get sick. I have been working five straight days at the bookstore and staying very late to help with recovery (we would be there as late as midnight!) and I'm sure customers (and some co-workers) were battling stress-borne sniffles. But I ain't even mad, just content.

I apologize for my long absence, most of it was related to the job. And some of it was due to a serious wake-up call about myself. I talked about being depressed several times on here and just now realizing how to get my life back on track. One big thing I noticed is that, like others who have been depressed, I bought so much stuff that it was suffocating. I looked around my room one day and went "holy s***, when did I have so much stuff?"

Doing the Burning House thing (see last entry) also really helped me realize what meant a lot to me. I also asked myself a hard question: "If, God forbid, I were to lose most of my things, would I bother replacing it all?" The answer shocked me: "not really". That really helped me realize that I need to start letting things go. In one day, I sold over $100 worth of books, CDs, video games, and DVDs. I'm still culling from my stacks.

Coring the collection has helped me realize not only how awesome the things I have are, but also lets me actually breathe in my room. It feels lighter, like someone who got their s*** together. It has been a huge change in my life and I'm ready to keep going.

While I'm not going all-out for minimalism, it's too extreme and riddled with class privilege issues, I'm taking a lot of lessons and applying them to my situation.

My ultimate goal is build up my savings (and get a better full-time job, of course) so I can move out and become more independent.

2013 will be the year that Frustrated Lady Writer finally gets a life. And published. Definitely that.