You've likely discerned by the silence of this blog that I've been stuck in neutral (or perhaps in reverse) in the ongoing journey toward making this apartment reflect my life now, rather than my parents' life then.
For newcomers to the blog, a few years ago I moved into my parents' apartment. They have both since died -- just over a year ago. I have been working at transforming the apartment into my home rather than the home of my parents -- but this has been a long process. It's time now to get moving again in this journey.
Instead of focusing on decluttering and organization, the SHED process digs deeper, and challenges the person to look at the life he/she is living now, and how they want to "be" in the next chapter of life. Quoting from page 17 of the book, SHED is an acronym for
Separate the treasures
Heave the trash
Embrace your identity
Drive yourself forward
Just reading that felt empowering.
Last night, I took the Assessment Survey at Julie Morgenstern's website, to prepare for my SHEDding journey. Early this morning, I read the first part of the book, and I have taken the first step in the process of separating the treasures -- I have delved within myself to discover the theme for the current/coming chapter of my life.
Most of the themes she uses as examples in the book are stated in terms of a noun phrase. I found that my theme wanted to be expressed as action verbs. Readers/doers are encouraged to live with the theme for a few days and see how it fits, as they move on to the tasks set out in the following chapters.
My theme, as it began to become clear to me this morning, is
Expand! Create! Act! Connect!
My next tasks will be to unearth the things in my home, my habits, my experiences that support that theme, and give them their place as treasures.
Stay tuned. I think it's going to be a fascinating journey.
