Something I'm Good At - Blog Carnival

This week’s Blog Carnival post theme is “Something I’m Good At”.

I am really good at keeping things. Like too good. Like if you said, “Lizzy could you please look after this scrap of paper for me?” I would put it away safely in one of my shoeboxes and in 6 years could bring it out and say, “did you still want this?” I don’t know why but I just keep stuff. It just happens. 

Recently a dear friend of mine sent me a letter addressed to herself. It was a work of comedic gold about how her future self should and should not behave should she have a wedding. My friend sent this to me for comedy reasons, but also because she knew I could keep it and pull it out at the right moment YEARS in the future if she broke any of the rules laid out in this letter.

I am hesitant to call myself a hoarder. I don’t want to claim a label that applies to people who can’t leave their own homes due to stuff. I don’t want to be like those people who say they have OCD when what they mean is they are neat. I do not have a house filled with 10 year old newspapers and ice-cream containers. Which is probably for the best. But I am pretty good at keeping stuff.

Plus, I have a lot of the symptoms of hoarding.

I keep stuff automatically, without thinking about it.
I become very agitated if I think about getting rid of things.
I will often ignore or refuse to look at a pile of things I logically know need to go.
I get really sad when I do throw things away.

In fact, I develop such an emotional attachment to the things I “hoard” that I have been known to cry when someone mentions getting rid of them. 

I don’t keep everything, but I keep “important” things - like photos, letters, tickets, notebooks, etc. And I keep clothes. I’m not even particularly fashion conscious. I don’t even love clothes all that much. But I find it incredibly difficult to throw them away. So I have a large pile of clothes that 1. don’t fit me, 2. have holes in them or 3. I no longer like to wear. 

So that’s my “Something I’m Good At” and this is all a really round about way of saying I managed to overcome my emotional attachment to a bunch of clothes last night. I pulled every item of clothing I own and shoved it on the bed. I put a bunch of stuff I’m not particularly attached to in a bag for charity, that’s fine, I can cope with that. But then I still had a pile of things I don’t wear but I can’t let go of… because it made me sad to think about. These items I threw in a massive bucket.

I told you I had a problem

Then I started making this:

It grew:

And grew:

And grew some more: 

It is now larger than my lap...

And now I have a fancy rug, clean shelves and no regrets. PLUS I can keep this rug and see the skirt I bought in year 12, the spotty dress I wore almost every day for a whole summer, all the black shirts from shows I’ve worked on and whatever else I add to it in the coming months. It was a spectacular cure for feeling sad about letting go. 

I suppose I’m good at making circular crotchet rugs from old clothes now too. So that’s nice.

Want to make a rug? The Art Assignment will tell you all about it here, further instructions here. 

What else is happening this week at the blog carnival?

Stay tuned for links... 

12 Things I do that my Teenaged Self would Judge me for

Art.

1.     I wear clothes that are fashionable because they are fashionable. Of course, I also wear really ugly shit, and stuff that I like, that no one else in their right mind would wear, but I do that for me, not to prove a point. The point is I try to look nice on a regular basis, and Teenaged Lizzy would think that was the height of conformity (a bad thing, obviously).

2.     I like stuff because other people are into it. See point 1.

3.     Social Media. Not only do I use it, I LOVE it. Facebook didn’t exist when Teenaged Lizzy was around, but if it had, you can rest assured she would’ve thought it was stupid. Teenaged Lizzy’s boyfriend got a Myspace once, and a few weeks’ later he was no longer her boyfriend. THOSE THINGS WERE NOT RELATED – but someone asked if it was. For real, they thought she’d broken up with him because he joined Myspace. What does that say about Teenaged Lizzy, huh?

4.     I drink alcohol. Older Teenaged Lizzy was well on board with this one, but younger Teenaged Lizzy definitely thought getting drunk was the WORST thing in the ENTIRE world.

5.     I’ve don't hate drugs. WHAT! Teen Lizzy would’ve flat out refused to believe this. Teen Lizzy (Teen Wolf?) was the most irritating person in the entire world about drugs. “Is _____ going to be there? I can’t come to the party then, in case he brings drugs.” TEEN LIZZY IF ­­­_____ BRINGS DRUGS GO TO A DIFFERENT ROOM OR LEAVE DON’T MAKE THE HOST FEEL BAD FOR INVITING THEIR FRIEND OMG.

6.     I respect my parents’ opinions. And I don’t just mean in that “yes mum, whatever you say, mum” kind of way. I mean like, if I have an emotional issue, I call my mum to talk about it because she knows me really well and is wise and clever. And my dad is my go to guy for life decisions like purchasing cars or insurance and what have you. Also cooking. They know things. I proactively seek their opinions on those things.

7.     I don’t believe in God. That’s right, Teen Lizzy, all your holier-than-thou shit is going to look even stupider in a few years when I throw in the towel on the whole Catholic thing and take up full time Atheism.

8.     I exercise and eat well. What up Teen Lizzy, being healthy isn’t lame ok, it’s a good thing that means I don’t get sick all the time like you do.

9.     I forgive people for their mistakes. Teen Lizzy, your love/friendship isn’t so important that people should have to be perfect in order to earn it. If they can say “sorry”, you can say, “no worries”.

10. I eat avocados. They are the fruit of the gods. I don’t know what you were smoking, Teen Lizzy, to think they weren’t delicious (though I think we can all assume it wasn’t drugs).

11. I write funny things, because, Teen Lizzy, you don’t make friends with bad poetry about emotions.

12. I have embraced the Inner Nerd you tried to keep hidden for so long, Teen Lizzy, she’s nice and she has good t-shirts, I wish you’d let her out earlier.

13. I have internet friends because internet friends are good, and guess what Teen Lizzy? YOU’RE A NERD, ACCEPT IT!