That’s it, a complete literal reading of the headline. No deep dark secrets, no intrigue, no symbolism, nor Eminem. Just a whole bunch of clothes that I no longer care to wear, or don’t fit any longer, getting put into bags and hauled off to the Goodwill Industries donation center.

That, my dear readers, was Sunday (and Monday after work, when I actually got the stuff over to the Goodwill store).

Honestly, I think it did me some good; getting seven or eight bags of “stuff” out of the house. It made me feel like I accomplished something, which, upon review of the free space in the closet, and the neatly organized drawers of the dresser in my bedroom, it’s clear that I did.

I’m one of those people who somehow manages to find himself feeling seriously down this time of year, every year. I don’t quite understand why – I once thought it was that I just don’t have the child-like appreciation of the holiday trappings, and that I quickly tired of them. While that’s certainly true, I’m beginning to doubt that hypothesis, as I have, consciously or not, managed to avoid most of that stuff this year (hell, I don’t think I’ve been in a shopping mall, the ultimate shrine to that sort of thing, since early October…), and I’m still generally depressed, quite often quick to anger or outburst, and, as my very patient wife puts it, “a pain in the ass to live with this time of year”.

So, who knows. It’s not the ever-popular and oh-so-cleverly acronymed Seasonal Affective Disorder (which is more about light exposure and perhaps vitamin D deficiency). My current feeling is that I just tend to react badly with all the demands put upon me by society this time of year; building upon all the rest of the stress that hasn’t yet managed to deal with.

And one just doesn’t have enough time in a day to stare at the fish tank or play Guitar Hero long enough to diffuse all that stress.

Frankly, this has been a reasonably stressful year, what with the new baby (Catherine herself is nothing but joy, but the associated overloaded caravan of crap that comes along with adding someone new to the family really takes it out of you), various surgeries, both elective and not, missing out on a couple of promotions (and generally trying to come up with a good definition of what my role in the workplace is now that the big project is over…), the nagging hoplessness I feel when I look at all that needs to be done in the next eight or nine months if I want to have our overstuffed and house cleaned, repaired, and ready to sell next year, as well as the usual financial, domestic, and universal stress that comes with being a responsible person, husband, and father in early 21st century western society.

Clearing out the old stuff from the closet helped me to feel a little bit better about my lot in life…I’ll take what I can get.

Maybe one could read a little deeper into that headline after all.

In any case, this week is going to seriously test my resolve; I’ve got two (though I honestly think I’m going to bail on the second) office Christmas parties on the agenda.

I think I’ll be staring at the fish tank a lot in the evenings to shake off all that holiday “joy”.