Wednesday 25 April 2012

Clearing out the clutter

Over the last month I have cleared out more crap than I care to mention.

I'm talking actual physical clutter from around the house (and garden), virtual email nonsense and spam and the biggie, emotional baggage.

And it feels good!

Clearing clutter is ridiculously good for the soul.

I was beginning to feel suffocated by the amount of 'stuff' around the house. I felt it closing in on me every time I tried to sit down to relax. I felt as if the whole energy of the house was all out of kilter, especially with two whole rooms being used as dirty dumping grounds. I felt uncomfortable with the room dubbed 'the nursery' feeling more like a morgue. And I just felt annoyed and frustrated every time I couldn't find something, tripped over something, or attempted to dust around something.

I was also getting more and more fed up with so many bits of nonsense landing in my inbox every single day. It was actually beginning to really make me stressed, I was losing important things or deleting them by accident and feeling overwhelmed by all the newsletters and hints and tips that were flooding in that I knew I was never going to have the time to read.

these things tend to get worse before they get better!
And then there's the emotional crap. The unresolved niggling feelings you carry around for years thinking you've dealt with them but haven't.

So, what did I do?

I spent 2 weeks systematically clearing up the house from top to bottom, making a giant mess in the process. I threw crap away, gave unwanted bits to charity and put nicer bits to one side to sell. I then cleaned and tidied and made the house look pretty and full of space. I made the 'nursery' into a little den just for me to go and sit in and just be and I made a concerted effort to unsubscribe from any pointless email I received and scheduled automatic clean ups of my in box.

And having done all that I felt lighter and freer and relieved and happy and proud.

And then I went on my NLP course safe in the knowledge that 'my house was in order'. And while there, during one of the processes I had a bit of an emotional breakthrough around something I'd been holding onto for years. I could feel it coming all week but it still took me by surprise. It was terrifying. But afterwards, apart from feeling exhausted, I felt an incredible sense of lightness. My sciatica stopped and the anxiety pain I carry around in my shoulder dissipated. I felt bubbly and frothy and again, an enormous sense of relief. There's still a lot of processing to do and I'm sure there's more to come but it's a great start.

So you see this really has been a month of clearing the clutter, and I really encourage you to do the same. On all levels. Holding onto emotions from the past blocks us from moving forward and puts us all out of balance, distorting how we see and react to things going on in the present and rendering us less capable of dealing with what else life throws at us. Imagine a glass of water, if it's too full up, any new water you try to pour in just overflows. And being surrounded by stuff, or bombarded with virtual stuff just gets in the way of what's really important.


Clearing the clutter gives us a calmer, clearer space, a calmer, clearer head and a calmer, clearer heart.

So give it a go and clear out some crap. It might not be easy, but I promise it'll be worth it.


A calmer clearer space, just for me...

2 comments:

  1. Great stuff and has inspired me to tidy my desk at home and sort through my filing... something I've had on my to-do list for at least three weeks!! Not exactly de-cluttering to your extent, but feels good nonetheless! x

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  2. "I felt uncomfortable with the room dubbed 'the nursery' feeling more like a morgue.".. I know how difficult this can be - I assume you have to moderate these, so don't expect/want it to be published, but just wanted you to know there are other people who feel like you do, because I understand sometimes, especially when it comes to that, you really can feel all alone...but trust me, you're not x

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