While cleaning out closets today, we found a lot of items that would seem like junk to one person, but could be treasure to someone else. Years of stashing items away has created a hodge podge of items from many years and many different people. I started thinking about how easily junk accumulates. It’s easy to shove items somewhere, throw a box here, or stash something there. Sometimes shoving stuff out of sight and out of mind becomes a way of dealing with the bombardment of junk. There never seems to be enough time to sort through everything and when the time finally does come, there is so much junk to deal with that it seems easier to just close the door and walk away.

I tend to be a stuffer. I shove as many random things into a box as possible and hide it on a shelf for later; and instead of sorting through it promptly, I put it off as long as I can.

I’m also a stuffer emotionally. I might get angry, sad or fearful, but instead of trying to figure out the root of the problem, I often shove those emotions into a box and go about my day. This is okay for a while, but soon, that box is going to get full. As it begins reaching max capacity, those emotions are going to start spilling out all over the people that I am around, even if they didn’t cause those particular emotions. For example, a waitress suddenly gets the full effect of anger I have been bottling up inside for months; or my spouse becomes the target of sarcastic remarks and hurtful words because of a totally unrelated incident; or a simple frustration brings me to uncontrollable tears because I just can’t take one more thing. Stuffing junk in an already full box just doesn’t work!

Even when it’s hard, we need to recognize and deal with our emotions because it’s not fair to spill our junk all over someone who doesn’t deserve it. Take time to sort through your junk this week, both physically and emotionally. One person’s junk is NOT always another person’s treasure.