If Not Now, Then When?

I spent the day yesterday at a Crossfit competition.  In the weeks/days leading up to these competitions, I always question my sanity for signing up; with the workouts not being revealed until the day before/day of of the competition, there is the anxiety of wondering if you’ll be given a movement you can’t do; you hope that you are injury-free and in good physical condition come the day of the competition; and there is the general performance anxiety and hope that you don’t let your teammates down.

You will find some of the MOST competitive people you have ever encountered at a Crossfit competition.  But the funny thing is, as competitive as they may be, it’s also the place you are MOST likely to find complete strangers cheering you on, giving you a high five, and complementing you on your performance.  And if that’s what coming from your fellow competitors, you should see the encouragement that you get from your teammates.  It’s an experience like no other.  And it’s that experience that keeps us/me signing up for these competitions.

Anyway, I spent the day yesterday at one of these competitions with 5 amazing teammates, another team of 6 amazing friends, and even the Coach came by to cheer us on/give some sage advice.  We were tested physically, but overall had a remarkable day filled with personal and team achievements.

The quote, “If not now, then when”, was painted across an entire wall of the gym we were at yesterday.  I was drawn to it; not only because it represented the sentiment for the day; but because it’s such a good motto for life in general.

Several friends have been raving about the book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  I bought a copy and started reading it this morning.  It is an interesting book.  And echoes a lot of the sentiments I’ve been feeling about my house in general over these past few months.  I especially liked the concept of examining each item in your house in terms of what it adds to your life today.

I’ve been trying to tidy up my house for months.  I’ve had no trouble getting rid of things like my high school band folder (complete with sheet music for the Lion King and Mario Brothers . . . in fact, how that survived this long in my possession is inexplicable).  I’ve also been quite happy to get rid of my “fat” clothes, bulky, “big plastic” baby accessories things, and broken/incomplete toys.  What I can’t seem to bring myself to do is tidy up the really loved baby/little kid stuff.  I have a huge bin filled with the “important” clothes that I’ve kept from my kids wardrobes through the years.  I have another huge bin filled with the “important” baby toys.  And I’m well on my way to filling another huge bin with my most favourite books – the only reason it isn’t full yet is because I just can’t bring myself to take all the baby books OUT of the kids’ rooms yet.  Yup, that’s right, the Son has baby books shelved alongside chapter books in his room right now.

I understand that I’m going through, what one of the heads of my daughter’s school called a “big transition”.  The kids are no longer babies, they don’t need me to take care of everything for them, and I find myself really missing those days of having a toddler running around the house.  I’m holding on to all of those memories by holding on to all of the stuff of those years.

Logically, I know that I will have the courage to dispose of all this stuff eventually.  And so, I’m going to try my very best to live this quote this week; with each item I look at as I tidy my house, I will think of what joy it brings to me, but I’m also going to ask myself . . . if it’s eventually going to be discarded, if not now, then when???

Ps.  I found the image at the top of this post on this blog.  In fairness – I did an image search, liked this one the best . . . and here it is . . . I’m sure it’s an interesting blog!