Entering a chronic dieter’s closet, equates to a shopping experience where multiple sizes adorn the racks. My overflowing closet needs a considerable purge rather than a wearing. Organized by size and clothing type, the “skinny” clothes live in the back, the larger upfront. To beautify the space, green, fake-suede covered hangers prevent clothing slippage and create a color-coordinated closet. This visual emphasizes simplification, consistency, and overall organization. Believing this alleviates the painful experience of choosing clothes has instead stood as a reminder that greater issues exist at the forefront. Until I feel comfortable in my skin, no creative closet solutions alleviate the inner emotional turmoil and excess weight.
As the unvisited clothes in the back waste away upon hangers, and accumulate dust, inner emotional issues settle within my heart and heal gradually. Disappointment and despair led to keeping the closet door shut, but opening the door recently feels liberating. The closet left unaddressed now needs attention. Since the closet formally closed a few months ago, a healing and transformation of my mind and body have occurred, causing me to venture in, purge it, and release it from purgatory. Although some clothing fits presently, the closet remains a reminder of my past I no longer wish to revisit. That was the old me, today the new me stands taller, stronger, and freer.
Removing and donating the clothes to those in need is gratifying, and surely would have made sense three years prior. Unready to settle that score between my closet and generosity, I rationalized that the clothes could and would fit eventually; purchasing new was unnecessary and impractical. Now foolishly I realize the frugal error. Many an expert claims ridding oneself of any form of clutter makes room for the new. Yet I could not hear it once upon a time until readiness arrived. Today the purging cleanses and heals. A reckoning frees my senses and the closet opening, drained of its contents, allows its freedom.
Cleansing the closet, taking action, and removing its contents, releases the deep-rooted struggle between the past and present. Former careers highlighting a certain style, dresses worn to weddings, and a host of ensembles that never made it to any ball, are ready to fly into a slew of trash bags awaiting occupancy. Clearing the clothes consciousness awakens, enables a “knowing” the excess weight of the past is gone for good. The clothes confined within a space metaphorically represent imprisoned history. Alleviating its captivity is a commitment to lightening the emotional load of the past, making space for the new. Cleansing the closet is healthy action for healing.