Keep An Eye On the Backdoor

One lazy afternoon, a cat softly walked up to the backdoor of a house. The door was left ajar; he stood there for a few tense moments assessing the danger level. When no one noticed his presence, he quietly stepped into the house and quickly sneaked into the kitchen. Within the next few seconds, he climbed up the countertop to lap up all the milk in the container.

The lady of the house caught him red-handed and chased him. The startled cat jumped to the ground and instead of exiting through the backdoor, he ran into the dining room. The lady went yelling and, running after the cat, but he kept dodging her. To escape her, he ran under the dining table and rushed into the living room to hide under the couch.

All through this chaos, the lady’s daughter was fascinated and excited by the cat. She protected him by not revealing his hiding place. After some time, the little girl started petting the cat. The cat quickly recognised the friend and the foe. He avoided the lady who chased him to spend most of his time with the little girl who befriended him.

Gradually, he made the house his home and soon two other cats joined him. All attempts to get rid of the cats were futile. Even if the lady chased them away, they found their way back into the house. They knew the little girl was ready to accommodate them. The little girl even suggested that these cats could get rid of the rats in the house. But, nothing of that sort happened. The rats and the cats all lived in the same house.

All-day long, they purred at the girl and relaxed in her lap. They stole food from the kitchen and slept on piles of freshly washed clothes. If anyone tried to get them out of the house, they showed their temper. They did not spare anything in the kitchen; they clawed the couches, destroyed the plants, knocked things down, and generally speaking, created a mess.

I have nothing against cats but observing the events in the above story, I can draw parallels to other events in our lives. When the cat first entered the house, it was totally accidental. If both the mother and child chased away the cat with the same fervour, the cats would have avoided the house. Because the lady chased them away, yet the girl encouraged them; the cats made the house as their home.

Bad habits enter into our lives in the same way as the cats did in this story. The first time is usually an accident or a coincidence. It is how we react to this event that decides our fate. If we chase the habit out of our life, then chances are that the habit will exit. But, if we cover them up or defend them, it will become impossible to get rid of the bad habit.

Just as one good habit attracts other good habits, one bad habit also attracts many other undesirable habits. The bad habits could be as simple as being lazy/procrastinating or something as serious as drug/alcohol abuse. Be mindful of what is entering through that backdoor silently. It might, at first, look innocent and harmless but eventually, it will show its true colours. Like stray animals are always prowling around looking for a quick meal and a comfortable place to settle in, the same way at every stage in life we are prone to several dangers. It is important to recognise them early and nip them out of our life.

I used the analogy of a cat’s behaviour in this story to explain my point about bad habits. However, I don’t want anyone to think that cats are bad nor should anyone ill-treat cats or any other animal for that matter. Cruelty to animals is a bad habit in itself. All I’m saying is keep an eye on that back door; all things evil and undesirable sneak in from there. If you liked what you read, please let me know. Until next time, Stay Safe.

Beware Of The Urge To Hoard

As a child, I observed my grandmother clean the kitchen. She disposed of all the unnecessary things, scrubbed every surface by washing and wiping them diligently. At regular intervals, she repeated this process with every room in the house. My mother, I can say with total confidence, is the chip off the old block. Keeping things organized and clean is not just her habit but also her hobby and passion. I wonder where those genes disappeared when it came to me. I clean my house no doubt, but that passion is completely missing.

For almost the last ten years, I have been living in the same old house. It has two bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, a laundry room and a storeroom. Every room, including the laundry room, is large. The problem with large spaces is that we tend to accumulate things. Over the decade, we had collected many things. Moving out from that house was nothing short of a nightmare.

It is at this juncture that I realized that I have been hoarding. Embarrassed by my situation, I got into a feverish pace of disposing and giving away things that I don’t really need. Things that we usually collect and pile up in corner cupboards are:

• Old clothes: We stop using clothes that we grow out of, but somehow we don’t throw them away. They just sit there collecting dust. Removing old clothes is a very good way to declutter the house.
• Old newspapers, books and magazines: What do I say about this one! Both my son and I love to read. We have a collection of books that we don’t have the heart to throw away. I managed to dispose of some and give some away yet, I have quite a few books that I am emotionally attached to. But, clearing them frequently is what I advise.
• CD’s/ DVD’s/Records: This one was a surprise for me. I never expected to see so many CD’s/DVD’s in my house. The more I cleaned the more I found. We cleared at least fifty per cent of what we had and still, I have more to sort through in the collection.
• Old electronic items: This category includes old phones, chargers, gadgets that no longer work and a few gadgets that we do not need anymore. They just lie in a corner covered in dust and grime. After a while, I don’t remember if it’s useless or otherwise. I had been lazy in getting them fixed or disposing of them. Now we have a ton of things to ship to the garbage bin.
• Old expired items: This category is a critical one. We need to regularly check the expiry date on medications, cosmetics and food items stored in the kitchen. We need to get rid of items that are past their expiration date. This is one thing that I never miss out, fortunately. Laziness in this area means putting the whole family at risk.
• Old bags: Yep! That’s what I said. Old handbags and school bags, lunch kits have a way of getting settled into cozy areas of the house. We tend to collect them out of nostalgia but, they should be cleared at the earliest.
• Recycling Projects: These projects intend to use up the leftover and unwanted items. Make something interesting out of them and reduce the unnecessary stuff. However, the end result is often the opposite of this. We end up accumulating more waste with a project in mind, but never come around to finishing it.
• Unfinished projects: This category is linked to the above pointer. I collect things with the idea of making some craft item but, these things rarely see the light of day. I have a hard time letting go of such projects. Every time I look at them, I hope to finish the project and make an art piece. I had to close my eyes and throw away all those things. From now on, I am setting a time limit of six months on such projects. If I don’t finish in that time, I have to throw those things because it means I will never have enough time to do it.

Finally, after clearing out all of these things, the house felt lighter and brighter. Our new house is smaller than the old one; the downsizing has helped us a lot. Cleaning the house is a never-ending task. I decided to devote a day or two, every month, for decluttering the house. If you have any other suggestions on this topic, I will be very happy to hear from you. Feel free to write your opinions in the comments section below. Enjoy!

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