February has come and gone. A number of you played the #MinsGame along with me in February, venturing to release 406 items over the course of 28 days.
Today I’m anxious to hear your success stories! What was it like attempting to meet this goal? How many items did you end up letting go of? What are you most proud of releasing? What did you learn about yourself in the process?
I’ll get us started.
As I look back over the course of the past month and consider the 406 items I released, what I was most proud of releasing were the handmade cards I released on Day 28. ( If you’re interested in exactly what I released during the 28 days, search my Twitter timeline, where I documented each day’s release.)
I used to spend a lot of time creating and making my own greeting cards. Ten years ago, I would easily devote 50-75 hours each year designing and making our family holiday cards. Because I appreciate how much time and effort goes into the process of making cards, I had a special appreciation for beautiful handmade cards we received and saved them in a container in my craft closet. It was time for them to go though, because they were taking up space on a shelf that I could devote to other things I deemed more important to me at this point in my life.
I honored each card one last time as I looked at it, recognizing and appreciating the skill and effort that went into creating it and considering the person who made it. I next disassembled them, separating recyclable components from non-recyclable ones, and released them accordingly. What I was left with was space on the shelf once occupied by that bin. What I was reminded of is that these cards are only things – small gifts given, primarily for the benefit of the giver and to be appreciated for a period of time, not necessarily forever.
If you didn’t play the #MinsGame with us this go round, there’s an opportunity to play every time you flip the calendar to a new month. If you’re looking for support, just search #MinsGame on Twitter and you’ll be connected to others who are releasing just like you. I’m feeling pretty pared down at this point so I personally don’t envision playing again anytime soon, but I’m guessing that come next February I’ll be ready for another go!
I am having some difficulty in naming one item released as being more significant than another. That must mean that it surely was time to let them all go! I did finally decide to let my teddy bear collection move to a better place. The bears have been residing in a large plastic bag for at least the last 20 years. I picked out several of my “favorites” and they are now on a shelf in the guest room. The rest are on their way to eBay.
Nice realization Mom – it probably was time to let them all go. I’m especially proud of you for letting go of the collectible teddy bears. There is someone out there in eBay land who will appreciate them. Now it’s time to get them listed, because getting them out of the house is a key component of the challenge. ; ) Hugs! A
Hi Andrea, I’m still engaged in the challenge and enjoying it. The useful part for me was to make a spreadsheet (28 days across and 1 to 28 items under each day.) Somedays I fill in several blanks; some days, I have to skip. Travel in February made it too stressful to limit myself to consecutive days, but the framework is great, and I’ll complete the challenge this month. The hardest things for me to give away are decorative items I got from my mother and keep telling myself I should save. One daughter has told me to pitch them,… Read more »
Loy, Sounds like a hoorah for you is in order. Congratulations in finding a way to make the game work for you during a period of time when you were out of town. With respect to the decorative items from your mother, let me know if you’d like to do some spot coaching around keeping them or letting them go. Way to take on this challenge!