Too Much of Nothing

TOO MUCH OF NOTHING

by Monique Franz

The other day, I couldn’t find a pen, and no writer should be without her pen. I threw two brand-new Sharpies into my desk along with my other teacher paraphernalia; whiteboard markers, highlighters, staples, paper clips, pencils, rubber bands, you name it. I grew increasingly frustrated that I couldn’t find one pen in that drawer, so I tore out everything until I finally found one.

I looked at the embarrassing amount of rubbish that came out of the desk and thought about how much clutter kept me from what I needed. This, as you might imagine, provoked a series of thoughts about how having too much yielded to having nothing.

People, especially in Western society, can literally have so much that it is impossible to access the necessary. We get bogged down with things, activity, information, desires, and expectations, becoming oppressed and depressed by them.

As I sorted through the junk (struggling to throw any of it away), several questions came to mind that I hope you will ponder as 2021 comes to an end:

• What gets in the way of seeing what (and who) is important?

• What is cluttering mind, time, and energy that has substance but is non-essential?

• What time can be set aside to radically toss all physical, mental, and spiritual crap that clutters my view of, or blocks the path to, life’s goals and purposes?

• To what people and things will I restore value and gratitude when repositioning them to their proper places of significance?

I hope to stay on top of what matters to me in this holiday season; faith, family, health, and the writing that stabilizes my overall wellbeing. And I invite those of you who might feel overwhelmed and borderline depressed to join me in the effort to declutter space, mind, and heart so that we hold dearest to the essentials that facilitate functioning at optimum productivity and peace. With the new year approaching, may we all adopt a more minimalistic mindset that naturally moves us to become more selective of what occupies our space and lives. And yes, minimalizing takes time and effort, and most of all, it takes faith. Clean the drawer, clear the mind, unclog the heart, and access what is most important to you in 2022.