Because it's a new year and I know there are some new listeners out there, I just want to introduce you to what you might have noticed in the title that this is called A Little Jolt of Joy. And I started these episodes a while back because I just had something on my mind or in my heart that I wanted to get out.
And it didn't necessarily revolve around anything to do with organizing or it was such a twist on how to look at things that it didn't really seem to fit with the routine of the podcast in general. I tried to keep them under five minutes or around five minutes because they were just these little episodes that I just wanted to drop in. And so you won't hear my intro music or any of that in these. But today's might be a little longer because I have a little story to go along
with it. My goal is to drop this tomorrow. I'm recording this on Thursday. Because Friday, with any luck, and we're, you know, holding our breath and crossing our fingers and, you know, doing little snow dances. But there is a chance that we will have a snow day here. I live north of Atlanta. It's a rarity. It's a rare experience. And so there's this excitement in the air of this anticipation of, will there be, will there be, will there be a chance at a snow day?
And the title I give, I plan to give this episode is that your kids deserve nostalgia. Georgia. And I don't know if you were as lucky as I was to, I grew up in the mountains of Maryland, which some people don't even know Maryland has mountains, but it was a heavy snow area at the time when I was growing up. And this excitement of waiting and wondering if school would be called off for snow. We had phenomenal road crews.
We often went to school in very heavy snow, but every now and then it would just be so heavy that we would actually get a snow day. And that memory I have of just watching the TV. Actually, we would listen to it on the radio, trying, I'm not that old, but it's just our local, we didn't have, we're a tiny little town. So it's not like the TV, the TV was covering Pittsburgh. It wasn't covering my local community. But anyway, we would sit and listen and wait.
I had the added advantage of the fact that my mom was the secretary at the Board of Education and my dad was a principal. And so we would actually get a call to our house to find out that there was going to be a snow day. But like all my friends would listen to the radio and like be squealing and would ask me if like I would know. And we had to.
You know, the old phone lines. So you're not clogging up the phone lines talking to your friend because you're hoping your dad's going to get the call that school got canceled. So we couldn't have like the snap communications that they have today. But I just remember so much that feeling of anticipation. And then when we knew we were going to get it, just it felt like a gift.
It felt like this special day that was this bonus day where nothing counted and you had plans that all got dashed and then you got to do anything. Like a lot of it was bundling up in snow gear, being outside for an hour and then causing all kinds of mess for your poor mom and then wanting to go out again and later after you thawed out and again. So you were constantly just dragging stuff in and out of the house because we didn't have mudrooms back then.
But anyway, I just was thinking as my daughter is just so excited for the idea that this could be a snow day. And then remembering, they literally could turn this into just a digital day. And they would still have schoolwork to do. And I was like, darn it, darn it, kids are.
Kids should be entitled to nostalgia, kids should be deserving of this chance to have this feeling of what it's like to have plans dashed, not from any of their own control, and just getting to have this feeling of this free day. So I don't know if you are in snow country. I don't know if there's any chance that tomorrow will be a snow day for you. But I just was thinking about like, what could you do with this day with your kids if there was a chance to have it?
And to sort of wrap this into a little bit of the decluttering type side of this podcast, I was recently listening to. A Gretchen Ribbon podcast about use it or lose it as an expression that was used a lot for, you know, your muscle mass or your brain, like you got to use it or you're going to lose it.
And she was making a suggestion that if there are things in your community you like, like a farmer's market or a live community group or whatever, go to them, use them, a local museum, or else we're going to lose these things because they aren't being supported.
I immediately thought what a great way to use it as a decluttering question because there's so many times I'm decluttering with clients and they're like well you know I'm going to save this because if I need one day to do this or well this is really special to me but it's been hidden in a box and you forgot you had it and so if you challenged yourself of like I need to use this or I should lose it, lose it being donated. Use it and if it's that special, bring it out, use it.
It's not so precious that hiding it in a box is okay or it's not so important for that rainy day in case, but let's use it for our snow day. And in my own personal life recently where I'm noticing this is for some reason, over the years with four kids and starts of new school years and various projects that they've had in school over the years. We have a ridiculous abundance of construction paper and glue sticks and stickers, and they're all beautifully organized.
And we have too many. We have too many things in that category of life. It is taking up the bottom half of two bookshelves that happen to have cabinet doors that I can stash them behind. And I'm like, I have one kid left at home who is a senior in high school. What are the chances that I need two cabinet fulls of art supplies? This is ridiculous. So it got me to thinking, if you happen to be blessed with a snow day tomorrow and your kids...
Have thrown on all the winter clothes, they've gone out, they've frozen themselves to death, they've come in, you've done the snack, and they're starting to get a little antsy and bouncy off the wall. Drag out all of those art supplies. The Play-Doh, all the things you think are, oh, we got to save it till we're doing this, or I got to make sure everything's cleared off, and I got to, you know, what if they use them up, and then we're to use it all up.
Drag it out. let them go wild. Let them be creative. If they find a marker that's dead, have them throw it out immediately. How many of the markers under these two cabinets are completely dead? But when am I going to sit down and test every one of them? Today is the day. Challenge them to create a crazy picture where they have to use every single marker you own's color at least once in it. And that way, if they find a dried out one, get rid of it.
And the key here is instead of going, Okay, great, Joy. Thank you. Used up a lot of great stuff. And we were able to have a really great time. And now I'm packing it away. And instead of it being two cabinets, it's only one cabinet, which is awesome. When? Except for now, I have my kids who are attached to all of these things that they just created that are displayed all over my house. And now I'm dealing with art, which I always feel guilty of getting rid of my kids' art.
I give you permission to make me the bad guy, and say, this was snow day art. And you know what happens on snow day art? It melts when the snow melts. So we will leave it up. But as soon as the snow is gone, we are going to let it melt away. And when they're back in school, take it all down, throw it all away, and know that the nostalgia, which I'm wishing for these kids to still have, will stay.
All right. On that note, I'll stop. I hope you guys are having the loveliest snow day and continue to choose joy.