There are hundreds, if not thousands, of blog posts and books about decluttering. Acknowledge the emotional side of letting go The question is how much stress and frustration you want to invite into your life.Ģ. Be intentional about taking your time and feel good about it, or set yourself impossible goals and deal with the fallout.Įither way, you can only do your best. I know that it’s hard to go slowly (trust me, patience is not my strong suit)-but the way I see it, you have two options. Set realistic expectations, do a little bit at a time, and then pat yourself on the back for following through with your plans. Acknowledge that it took a long time to accumulate your clutter, and it might take a while to let it all go. The alternative is to embrace slow decluttering. You’re just digging yourself a hole, and if nothing changes, it will get harder and harder each time. Next time you attempt to declutter, you’ll feel so much resistance because the last experience was so miserable. Not fun, right? And you can bet that your mind will remember. But what if you’re not? How will you feel if you set the bar too high and don’t manage to follow through? Of course, if you’re new to decluttering, you might be one of the lucky ones. Yes, some people will tackle their entire home in one wild weekend. Embrace slow declutteringįirst and foremost, let go of the idea that you have to declutter quickly. By expanding our ability to cope, we can declutter without stress or perhaps, even with ease. Once we understand why decluttering is stressful, we have the keys to transforming the experience. Now, I know this might sound negative, but it’s actually promising. We’re in over our heads, and we wonder what went wrong. Decluttering seems simple, so we go in with guns blazing, confident that we’ll get everything done before the end of the weekend.īut more often than not, we end up surrounded by haphazard piles and a bigger mess than when we started. The same applies to decluttering-and I know it might sound obvious, but I’ve worked with enough women to know that it’s a common mistake.
Even a superstar cook would struggle to cope because it’s simply too much to manage. It’s like being asked to cook a five-course dinner in one hour, using ingredients you’re not familiar with, without a recipe to guide you. If your expectations are unrealistic (you’re trying to do too much without allowing enough time) or you’re approaching decluttering without a clear strategy, then stress and overwhelm are inevitable. Stress is “ the feeling of being overwhelmed or unable to cope with mental or emotional pressure.” In other words, having a lot to declutter can feel stressful, but the cause of stress is less about how much you have to do and more about how equipped you feel to handle it.
Is it because we have so much clutter in our homes? What Makes Decluttering Stressful?īefore we talk about stress-free decluttering, it helps to understand why we feel stressed in the first place. Here are six simple tips to help you declutter without stress, no matter what you’re up against. It’s all too much-but it doesn’t have to be that way. Progress is slow, and it’s easy to feel defeated.Įventually, stuff is shoved back into our closets or under the bed, out of sight and out of mind. Instead of making effortless decisions about what to keep, we agonise for hours. Unfortunately, for most people, the reality is a bit more complicated. All you have to do is decide what brings you joy and then let go of the rest. Decluttering is one of those things that sounds SO simple in theory.
0 kommentar(er)
