Tomorrow is the 6th annual 'Good Riddance Day', a special day created by the Times Square Alliance in New York City to encourage people to get rid of what no longer serves them, in preparation for a clean start to the new year.
'Things to be gotten rid of' can be anything from stacks of old paperwork to unpleasant memories but the idea is to clean house, whether literally, figuratively or both, and it's a fantastic way to give yourself a fresh start as the year winds to a close. In Times Square, they'll even have a giant shredding machine available for people to toss in everything from old credit card bills to photos of an old flame.
You certainly don't have to travel to Times Square in order to participate, and I highly recommend creating your own version of Good Riddance Day right at home. Whether it's cleaning out a closet, your office files or your mental and emotional clutter, there is nothing like either a literal or symbolic ousting of whatever doesn't serve you in order to clear the way for goodness to come into your life. There's all kinds of power and freedom to be gained by doing this kind of physical and emotional clearing.
I've personally got a stack of old photographs that I've been meaning to go through for YEARS. Back in the days when cameras still used film, I'd develop and keep every single photo I ever took. Finally, at least two years ago if not three, I dug all the albums and boxes out of the various closets they were in and stacked them up in a corner of my basement, intending to go through them and radically pare down the collection 'once and for all'. And ever since then, every time I walk by that pile in my basement a little bit of my energy seeps away, as I think even for a fleeting moment about what an undertaking it will be.
Yet now, writing about it, I realize that if I'd taken just ONE day in the last two (or three) years, sat myself down and did the deed, how much more free I would have felt walking past that corner of my basement all this time.
Due to a previous commitment, I can't clean up my photos on actual Good Riddance Day, which really stinks because it would have been awesome to be able to write in this post that THAT's what I was going to do tomorrow. But I have booked off another date in my calendar and get the job done. I know I'll feel so much better afterward.
That's one example of the physical 'stuff' we might need to say good riddance to. What about the mental and emotional baggage we carry around?
In Times Square, for people who want to get rid of unpleasant memories, worries or fears, black markers are handed out with white sheets of paper so people can write down whatever they're ready to give up mentally and emotionally, and symbolically shred those too.
Are there thoughts and fears running through your mind that you're ready to say goodbye to? Regrets or sad memories you keep replaying over and over? It may seem contrived to think that writing such things down on paper and shredding them will get rid of the negative thoughts, but the symbolic physical act is actually quite powerful and cathartic.
In the world of goal-setting, it's well-known that there's something very powerful about writing things down. Henriette Anne Klauser writes about it in her book "Write It Down & Make It Happen", so if writing down your goals makes you more likely to make them happen, then it stands to reason that writing down your negative thoughts and fears - and then shredding or otherwise destroying them - might also help you make them disappear.
Whether you shred 'em, dump 'em, burn 'em (safely) or flush 'em down the toilet, consider creating an annual ritual celebrating an 'out with the old, in with the new' mentality, cleaning up not only the corners of your basement but those darker corners of your heart and your mind, where unhelpful thoughts and feelings reside. Throw in a dash of humour and a little bubbly, and you may just end up creating a fun event that you'll look forward to year after year.
What are YOU ready to give up?