Hanger Hang-ups
By Judy Fedele

Ever tried to throw out hangers? No matter how twisted, bent or broken they are, they defy attempts at disposal. They shred any garbage bag they are put into, even those tough stretchy ones, like a pinky nail on pantyhose.

It’s tough to get rid of things, period. You know the expression, “in with the new, out with the old”… but sometimes it’s hard to part with things that have been with us for so long. No matter that some of us still have clothes from the 90’s (or 80’s, or 70’s…). We might as well bequeath those clothes to our kids rather than hang on to the hope that they will fit us again one day.

And it’s not just our own closets, the same goes for our kids’ things as well. My older daughter is started a new school this past year. Her last one, a private school, closed permanently. So all the school uniforms she had cluttering her closet (and closet floor) became extraneous, superfluous and irrelevant. That’s a lot of words for unnecessary clothes. Not to mention that she added to the closet with all the ‘must have’ new clothes for the new public school.

So we weeded through and removed all the uniforms, and culled through the outfits she’s outgrown or grown out of like with. The old clothes in good shape I bagged for my younger daughter, but what about the uniforms? Can’t use those any more. Should I hang on to them, along with all those useless hangers? Or let them go?

It’s hard to let things go. And sometimes harder to let new things into our lives, like adding time for new friends or activities, or even new healthy habits. I’ve added drinking more water during the day (healthy habit), but still haven’t let go of eating the sweet & salty snacks I crave at night (unhealthy habit). What can we let go of this year that might make room for new, healthier things in our lives? It’s the start of the new - let’s air out our old ‘closets’ and let a little Fresh Air into our lives.