A New Year starts when you decide it starts....a "rags to riches" story...

This weekend I'm having a couple of rooms in my house painted....before cooking, painting ( and decorating) used to be my hobby. I used to paint every room in my house about once a year, and I've painted many of my friends rooms over the years. But those times are over and now I hire the paint jobs out....lucky me!

If you've ever painted any rooms in your house on your own, or hired someone to paint for you, the routine is the same....you have to move ev-ver-y-thing....EVERYTHING! All the pictures come down, all of the furniture is moved....what a perfect time to clean. Or should I say cleanse. wipe all of the dust away, mop or vaccum, edit the crap that piles up..... This time not only will I clean out these rooms, but I am committed to only put back the things I need, or the things I've collected that make me happy or that I love to look at. I'm going to keep my riches and get rid of my rags (trash).

Tuesday afternoon my yoga teacher, Elena, started out the practice by talking about the Fall season. She described Fall as the final season of the year, the last cycle. Time to clean up all that you harvested earlier in the year and plant for the upcoming Spring. The seeds you plant now will be what you harvest next year...but first you have to clean out and prepare the feilds. A time to start over....could we look at Fall as the start of a new year? Sounds good to me! From now on, Fall will be my New Year.

This reminded me of a conversation I had with a woman that grew up on a farm. She told me that when summer was over, all of the unharvested vegetables would rot in the fields, as it grew too fast to keep up with, and how nature runs riot and grows so much more that one family can eat, or give away. After hearing this story I, for the first time, didn't worry so much about "wasting" food, as nature wastes enough on it's own. Food is abundant....lucky us we live in a country where we can say that with confidence.

Anyway....Fall, a time to clean what has overgrown our lives. Why is it that traditionally during the Fall we create more mess? Most of our biggest food Holidays start in the Fall. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Instead of getting ready now for the New Year, we pack more on top of the "old year", in the way of being busier than ever, eating more foods than we normally would, and buying more stuff that we don't need? Why do we have to wait until January 1st to start anew? If we start now, by the time Jan. 1st hits we'll be golden! Screw holiday obligations, what about the obligation to ourselves? Start a New Year now! Plant the seeds of lightness, strength and health now. Don't give yourself the excuse to do more damage in this Fall season, instead start your new year now.

This past year, especially, I've been giving away "stuff" like a madwoman. I own too much stuff, including food, and I used to like it....but I don't anymore. Owning too much stuff is paralyizing, not to mention it weighs too much. I've packed my car with at least 4 full loads that I took to the Goodwill. I did manage to have a garage sale right before summer that I made of ton of cash at....but I spent it on more stuff! I routinely edit and give away expensive designer clothes to my friends, giving some of my yoga teachers that I know can't afford much, Lululemon that I never wear. Too bad for my best friend Fawn that she's a size smaller than me....she already got all of the stuff I grew out of last year, lol!

So that brings me to my "rags to riches" story.....

I don't know about you, but when I decide to "be in for the day", in other words, my ass is not leaving the house anymore, I change into "kick back clothes". What are "kick back clothes"? Well, they are PJ bottoms, and the oldest t-shirt I can find...and of course it never "matches". It never fits quite right either because who cares? Are you kidding me? I have so many cute clothes, t-shirts, leggings, shorts, sweaters, hoodies....I can afford to wear my "riches" for rags!

My raggedy days are over. Life is too short to look ugly, or feel ugly! Even if no one is around to see you (tree in falling in the forest, lol). Mark, of course, could care less what I wear, but we all know how we feel when we feel we look cute, don't we? (I happen to be feeling really cute right now!)

Starting "New Years" are a luxury we can all afford by deciding to focus on our "riches". Husband, wife, children (grandchildren), a roof over our heads, one or two kettlebells, the knowledge of how to prepare our own foods. The time to workout, a daily walk, yoga, kettlebells. Clean bedsheets, our own washer and dryer, or a bunch of quarters for the laudrymat! Foodstamps, if we need them, and friends and family to turn to for support when we feel down. A full tank of gas, DVR, cell phones, laptops, a successful business, passion for what you do, health, strength, art, intensity.

Do not forget how rich we all are and how little we actually need. Dump the rags. Life is too short, and we are too cute, to wear rags....