Serenity: A Life Lesson from My Sock Drawer

Years ago, I read a handbook on decluttering your life.

I remember one chapter in particular. The author suggested starting small by de-cluttering a single drawer.

Paraphrasing her, “Apply the declutter principles in this book to your sock drawer. I predict you will find yourself coming back to admire your decluttered drawer. You will open the drawer even when you don’t need anything, and it will make you smile.”

I followed the advice. I opened my sock drawer and followed the directions. I studied the contents. Then, I organized them, following her directions. I sorted things to be kept and things to be thrown away. The rules were simple: If something was not working for me, it went. This cleared more space to allow me to fold my socks and see them all in a row.

As the author predicted, after completing this simple task, I returned to the drawer to admire its neatness. I found happiness in observing its order and sanity.

The release I felt after organizing my sock drawer motivated me to do the other drawers, then my closet, which contained suits and shirts I had not worn for years, books and magazines stacked up unread on my desk, and finally, my workshop and garage. One drawer led to my whole life.

This was like my experience with Steps 4, 5, 6, and 7. I opened a small part of my life with a first written inventory. Following some simple rules, I sorted the good from the bad and tossed the bad. If it was not working for me, it went. That small part became ordered and sane.

And I was so pleased with the result that I tackled other parts of my life. De-cluttering my sock drawer and then other parts of my home was good. And decluttering a small part of my character and then de-cluttering more of myself was also good. Not that socks and moral character traits are equivalent. Rather, order and sanity in life are good.