Clear out the clutter

Why do we save so much stuff? Why do we pile it and hoard it and cram it into closets and under beds? As I cleaned out a nasty closet, I uncovered some reasons.

Why we save stuff

• You don’t want to admit you made a bad decision.
• You hope things will be different someday: you’ll be that smaller size again, you’ll have a bigger house, you’ll get inspired to take some action.
• You feel obligated: Someone gave you this thing and you don’t like the thing but you love the person.

As a result, all this stuff is here, there and everywhere, weighing on you, nagging at you. And every time you see it you get an unpleasant feeling, like a tiny failure.

I never wear those jeans. When am I going to slim down and fit into them again?
I never use any of those seven pie plates. When am I going to start baking pies?
I never use that iPod Shuffle. When am I going become a runner?

Clear it out. At some point, you’ve given it enough time to fulfill its destiny. Now it’s time to let it go. Acknowledge it and let it go.

It’s clutter – physical and mental.  It stops you from doing something else or being something else. When you get rid of it, you acknowledge that you’re moving on. You are showing yourself that you are open to new things, new opportunities.

Let pieces of your old self go and make room for the new. Your style has changed. Your mind has changed. That’s great! Let yourself grow. Unfetter yourself from the past and move forward into the future. Any future you want.

My closet was such a chaotic mess that I had to make a project plan for tackling it one step at a time! As I considered all the points above, I got rid of things I’d been hanging onto for a long time. And it all went to charity. Clothes, shoes, household items – as soon as it was all bagged up, I loaded the car and drove to Goodwill. Not one more day nagging at my life.

I feel unburdened. All that stuff is heavy; it weighs us down. There is still plenty of excessive stuff in my house but just purging one closet has made me feel so much lighter, eager to tackle the next space, and ready for fresh, new opportunities.