If there’s anything new you want in your life, you need to make room for it. I was having a conversation with a friend who currently lives in a very small studio-sized space. She says she has no more room for anything and needs to move to a larger place. She felt having this small space was preventing her from having the ability to open herself up to a relationship. She said she has “no room” for anything or anyone. I understood where she was coming from and I asked her about her current small space environment, and she admitted she’s accumulated “stuff” she just couldn’t part with.
They held memories and were comforting. I asked her how many times will she live in that story that the stuff is who she is? We believe the stuff makes us who we are. We hang on to the stories (and stuff), and we nurture it, we talk to it, we care for it and feed it and in the end, it sucks the life and energy right out of us!
I can definitely feel the difference when my workspace is clear of clutter. When papers pile up I feel the energy zapped right out of me. I’m sure you feel the same way. When things are tidy you just feel better. You feel accomplished and you feel at peace.
Minimalism is becoming quite popular. Marie Kondo has been a huge contributor in this space with her book best-selling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and her videos series on Netflix. The concept of thanking an item for providing you joy before parting with it makes sense.
I believe there are easier ways to go about making more space in your life. One of my mentor’s, Jack Canfield writes in his best-selling book, The Success Principles, do we really need all this stuff? Of course not. Look around you and I’m sure you’ll find some sort of clutter. On my desk I have a basket full of pens. I can guarantee I can go through those pens and toss most of them. I’m confident many don’t work or I’m holding on to some memory the pen provides, like from a cruise husband Bob and I took 2 years ago. It’s just stuff. There’s a lot of energy tied up into the thought of all the pens.
When I walk into my clothes closet, I definitely get the feeling of claustrophobia. It’s that time of year again when it’s time to purge. I’ve watched, listened to and read from many on how to clear out your closet. I was recently watching a YouTube video on the topic with a person who was providing guidance on how to clean out your closet. She has some very good criteria to follow, however, she was having a hard time following her own advice. One thing she suggested was if you have multiples of one item, like a t-shirt and you have other tee-shirts in a similar color, get rid of the ones you don’t like. Simple, right? She really struggled and ended up keeping more and justifying her decision. In the end, she admitted it was hard…very hard!
Yes, it is hard to let go of stuff. We surround ourselves with stuff for many reasons. I also believe it’s very generational going back to those growing up in the depression who hold on to everything to the millennials who see less is more. As for me being a baby-boomer going through the 80’s it was all about stuff and living a life of excess. As I age, I see the benefits of less.
I’d love to hear how you view stuff in your life…please comment below.
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