Traces of leaves

Over the Labor Day weekend, I was doing some Fall cleaning and tackled one of my closets in an effort to become better organized. I found a mound of old notebooks and memorabilia dating all the way back to my high school days. I sat on my floor for hours reading old newspaper articles that I had written for my high school paper, old college essays, class notes, etc. It was a surreal walk down memory lane. I'd forgotten how naive and idealistic I was back then.

For instance, I found an autobiographical obituary I'd written for one of my journalism classes and was surprised to find I had once thought that I would write 12 novels by the time I was 63 years old. I even had two titles picked out and one of the titles, Traces of Leaves, was going to win me a Pulitzer Prize. I'm a little behind!

My goal for this past weekend, however, was to de-clutter my life a bit and let go of unnecesary stuff. It was tough, but I tossed out 90 percent of all that clutter I'd been holding on to for twenty years or more. Afterwards, I felt a deep sense of relief to not let those material things take up space in my closet or my head. I realized I don't have to keep old school notes/tests to remind myself how smart I used to be. I'm still smart and, even better, I'm wiser. I don't have to win a Pulitzer prize to make an impact on the world. Every time I smile at a stranger, actively listen to a troubled client, help my son with his homework, I'm leaving traces of leaves on the world that last.

I encourage you to let go of the clutter, either in your mind or in your closet, and focus on what's important to today.