I’m invoking the 5 rule.  What is the 5 rule you ask.  Well my ghouls and boils… let me tell ya.

Two years ago at Word on the Street, I was working the booth for a publishing house I was working for at the time.  A young girl came up to the booth.  She had $10 to spend and decided she wanted one of our books.  Before letting her finish the purchase, her mother said to her, “Honey, you know what you have to do first.”  The girl said, “Ok Mommy” and while looking at the book named off 5 reasons why she should have the book.  She was able to do it quickly and confidently.  Her mother told her that because she followed the 5 rule, she could buy it.  Curious, I asked the mother what the five rule was, the daughter interceded.  She told me point blank, “If you want something you have to say 5 really good reasons in under a minute.  If you can’t you don’t want it or need it bad enough.”  As I said at the beginning of this post… I’m invoking the 5 rule and adding a twist to it.

I’m at a standstill in my life and rather than be thrown into another depression, I am realizing I need to not only make some major decisions about where my life is going, in order to do it and do it positively, I need to purge.  I need to purge, material things, unnecessary distractions and people.  Anything that is holding me back needs to go.  I have too much unnecessary ‘stuff’ in my life.  I seem to have a difficult time purging, so am using the 5 rule to do it.  If I can’t name 5 reasons, in under 1 minute as why to keep something.  It goes.  The process slows things down, but at least this… built in guilt… won’t win out when I attempt it.  But isn’t using this rule for people a little harsh you ask.  When it comes to people, I will at least show some fairness.

How the people purge works, if I can’t come up with 5 reasons that they should still be in my life, and if following the rules, they would be purged, unless they can give me 5 good reasons they should stay.  I tend to hold onto people, no matter how negative they are for me, in hopes of fixing things, that things will change.  People don’t change.  They don’t know how.  We are the only creatures that keep repeating the same mistakes, hoping for different results.  I’m that creature.  I’m ‘Miss Fix It’ as my father so lovingly calls me.  I have always unselfishly put others before me, with little or no reciprocation.  Even Mother Theresa knew when enough was enough so, that part of me is getting purged as well.  I am no longer fixing people or situations, the only thing I’m fixing is me.

As hard as this next little while will be.  It has to be done.  Material things, I will sell or donate to charities.  The rest, well, the rest will have to work itself out and it will.