Author: Gail Blanke
Type: Audiobook (abridged)
Narrator: Gail Blanke
Genre: Self-Improvement
Series: No
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Listen & Live Audio, Inc.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Summary: from GoodReads.
Throw Out Fifty Things is truly an eye-opener. According to Blanke, our lives are so filled with junk from the past—from dries up tubes of crazy glue to old grudges—that it's a wonder we can get up in the morning, never mind get to work, care for our children and parents, and just put one foot in front of the other. Blanke wants to start a movement across America of people throwing out fifty things (magazines count as only one!) that will help liberate us from the stuff—both physical and mental—that clutters our lives. It’s the physical stuff that keeps us from being happy and calm in our house—not to mention keeps us from finding our keys in the morning! And it's the clutter in our mind that drags us down and holds us back from living the life we want to live. Blanke takes us through each room in the house and helps us get rid of 'toxic' possessions that remind us of failed relationships, bad jobs, etc., then she'll help us figure out what to keep so we can move forward and find out who we really are!
Feelings:
Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke was not an exceptionally good book. The audiobook was abridged for which I am grateful. At times I wondered what was cut to make this the abridged version because it still felt clunky and cluttered with examples.
What this book did well was give motivation and guidelines to get up off the couch and do. In this case getting rid of the clutter both physical and mental. She is much better at telling us how to let go of the physical objects than the mental ones. She suggests or tells us to start by getting rid of the physical stuff and start one room at a time. Here the instructions are pretty clear. If you have to think about whether or not you should keep it you should let it go. Also, by no means should you throw out someone else's things. Darn, I was so looking forward to keeping all of my stuff and trashing others...just joking.
When it comes to helping us let go of mental things she is far less helpful. Saying, now that you got rid of all that stuff it should be a lot easier to let of of the mental stuff. She gives hints like you will have to keep reminding yourself not to do these things or you will have to work at it. That just isn't all that useful when it comes to letting go of mental things. She does provide lots of examples here too. this was when I was really grateful for them. Maybe this is when you would need to actually meet with her in person and have her council you through the process of mentally letting go. I'm not sure I would feel confident that talking would help that much more if she can't give a good explanation in the book. The examples of people who did changed or let go of mental bag are what inspire others to try.
If this wasn't a self-improvement, motivational, get up off the couch and stop thinking about doing it and actually do it kind of book I don't think I would have finished listening to it. The style of the writing was a bit much at times and it was helpful in the doing but not really written in a way that I enjoyed. At times I found it slightly annoying to listen to and I think reading would have evoked the same feelings.
What this book in audio form does do is start giving you the tools to get started on uncluttering your life and deciding what is really important to us. I know for myself that it can be hard to let go of things as well as to figure out why I don't want to let go of them. This book starts to give us the tools to let go of what we don't need physically and to mentally let go and redefine who we are, to reflect who we want to be.
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