I had a clutter epiphany.

It dawned on me last night that clutter isn't always a physical object.  Sometimes it's mental, sometimes it's from cyber-space.

I live in a neighborhood that thinks it is so cool that it has numerous Facebook pages.  Two basic groups for the neighborhood (the admin of the second page didn't get along with the admin from the first page so she made her own), one for "dirty laundry", a mom's group, a couple of food groups (I actually admin one of those), some of the individual areas have their own, and so forth and so on.  I left the dirty laundry page last year because it just disgusted me the way people treated each other.  

I have recently come to the conclusion that I hate living here, which sucks because this area is actually pretty awesome and I do love my house.  I don't post very much on the neighborhood Facebook pages but I do check them out every day or so (sometimes there's good info).  Last night I went over to the one I look at most and was upset by a post someone made.  It dawned on me that, more often than not, I am either annoyed by or get hurt feelers from what is posted there.  Yes, I know this is stupid and that I shouldn't take things personally, but I also know that this is a flaw of mine that I have not mastered yet.  This post was a picture of a garage crammed with crap (obviously a stock photo from somewhere and not an actual photo from an unsuspecting neighbor's garage).  It was accompanied by a rant about jerks who fill their garages with crap instead of parking in them, thus adding to the parking issues in the neighborhood.  I get it, our CCRs (don't know what it stands for but it's a 5 inch thick binder of rules and regulations we're supposed to follow in exchange for the privilege of living in an over-priced house here) state that our garages must be able to accommodate the number of cars it is specified for, but there is no need to throw out a blanket insult/accusation to those of us that don't have perfectly organized garages.  

Do you think I enjoy having a garage cram-jammed with shit?  No, I do not.  As a matter of fact, sometimes just thinking about it is enough to give me an anxiety attack.  You have no idea why someone's garage is not useable for its intended use.  Maybe someone's parent just died and they're having to store things while they figure out what to do.  Maybe they're letting a friend who lost their home stay with them and that's their stuff taking up the space.  Maybe, like me, they are fighting mental illness and desperately trying to get a handle on things.  YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT SOMEONE IS GOING THROUGH.  I get it, you're pissed because our cluttered garages are against the rules.  It is our fault that the parking situation here sucks (never mind the dumb asses who came up with this "master plan").  However, I do have to wonder, if your garage is perfect and you park in it, why are you crying about the parking?

Anyway, the point of this rant was the epiphany I had regarding non-physical clutter.  I don't need it in my life any more than I need all the crap taking up my garage.  I sat there for a good 10 minutes looking at the "leave group" button.  Ugh, what if I miss something?  What if, what if, what if…then I clicked it.  Then I went through my list of Facebook groups and reevaluated every one I belong to.  And I left a lot of them.  And it felt good.  Like as good as it feels when I drop off a car load of crap at the Goodwill.  

Maybe now that I'm not subjecting myself to a good chunk of the stuff that I don't like about living here I'll remember why I was so excited to move here in the first place.