One of the best ways to lift your mood is by de-cluttering. It’s true. Here is my tale over the last few weeks: I lived in a one-room loft. When I left my house and husband three years ago my goal was to create a place for my adult children to visit that looked like home to them. And, I probably wanted it to look like home for me as well. My tiny place was filled with all the trinkets of the past, those things that meant so much. And, I was glad they were around for me to look at while I sat there in my place stunned at what had just happened to my life. There was comfort in things. Although my place was small, it was filled with memories. When each of my children came to visit, I told them that I hoped that it looked like home to them. It did. Mission accomplished.
Fast forward three years and I moved into a condo that is nearly three times the size of that little apartment. It has floor to ceiling windows with a loft living space and it is light and airy. So as I was unpacking box after box (don’t ask me how I had all this stuff in a one-room loft) and putting everything away I realized that I didn’t need to make this place look like a replica of my children’s home. I have done that. I eased them into the world where their parents lived in two different places. I did my job. I don’t have to fill this place with family memories. And, I think I don’t need to surround myself with clay projects that the kids made 20 years ago. Love them, but don’t have to see them every day.
With that in mind, I am feeling lighter, physically lighter. I don’t have to throw everything away, but, clearing it out and putting it away makes me feel better. I am not weighed down by the memories that were facing me daily when I awakened. I can wake up with a clean slate and move forward rather than letting objects keep me in the past.
Here is Your Challenge
You can do the same. If you are single you, of course, love your children and are probably surrounded by them through stuff. You don’t have to say goodbye to the stuff, just put it away. I am keeping the stuff, just not dusting the stuff every week. Take this challenge: clear off your refrigerator or a countertop or vanity this week and see how it makes you feel. Do you feel lighter? Physically lighter? That action alone can lift your mood and lighten your heart, even if it is temporary. And if tomorrow you put up a new refrigerator magnet, no worries, today your mood will be light and airy because you don’t have to manage and look at the stuff today.
I hope you will try this and let me know how de-cluttering even just a small portion of your life makes you feel. Let’s face it, there aren’t a lot of things you can do for free that can have such a positive effect on your mood and attitude. So, go crazy and clean off your kitchen counter!
