Life is too short to worry about "stuff."

Moving day is inching closer and I still have nothing packed. I HATE PACKING. I always have. I put it off until the last possible moment--either the day before move-in day the dorm, the Friday of finals week when I'm moving out on Saturday from the dorms, the Sunday night after having my wisdom teeth pulled on Friday before moving into my first apartment on Monday, and now two short weeks before moving two hours away (which means I need to be efficient to make very few trips), not a single thing is in a box! Even for short trips/vacations, I'm packing at 2am before leaving at 8am. I'm not sure where my dislike for packing came from, but it's there and it's annoying. But I'm hoping (and praying!) that this move will be one of my last for a while. Honestly, I'd like for my next move to be a more "permanent" move into a house of my own rather than a rental property. But we'll cross that bridge when the river runs through it. :)

My biggest goal for this weekend is to de-clutter, re-organize, cluster things for donations, and clean. That way when I start putting things away in boxes, I'll feel confident that they're going in the right boxes and that the stuff I'm taking really needs to be going with me. I come from a long line of hoarders (no, really) and I have tried so hard in my life to counterbalance that tendency. With each move I take a little less and get rid of a little more. I much prefer simplicity in nearly all aspects of life. The fact that I'm downsizing apartments from where I'm at now to where I'm going really helps put things in perspective.

The weight of the recent disasters in Missouri, Alabama, and Arizona have been on my heart as well. I pray for the people affected by these horrible disasters daily...and mostly I pray that they cultivate the relationships in their lives while coming to the realization that the material stuff can be replaced (even when it's difficult to let go). I guess I need to be praying the same prayer in my own life. The material stuff can be let go. While it may evoke a memory with a certain person or an event, the memory and the people I shared it with are by far the most important things! So I pray that I can keep that in mind while going through all the stuff I've acquired over the years to downsize.

Life is too short to worry about "stuff." I need to be more concerned about the relationships I'm building, maintaining the ones I've built, and seeking to be the best version of my self that's possible. The stuff can go.

So that's what I'm up to this weekend. Anyone else have any big plans?