Overwhelmed. That’s often how people who feel when their lives have become too 
cluttered up. It seems like you can barely keep your head above water and there’s no room to breathe.
Clutter has a huge impact on our lives. It’s not just the annoyance of lost keys or the overflowing inbox or the weight of too many commitments. That’s bad enough but a cluttered up life also takes its toll in other ways.
Too much stuff in your head or on your desk gets in the way of your success. It sucks up time making you less effective and efficient.
Just like an undertow pulls you down in the water, clutter has an energetic drag on your life. It creates a stagnant energy that causes you to feel tired. Think about the most cluttered space in your house. How does it make you feel? Now think about the last time you went on a cleaning spree. I bet you had a renewed sense of energy and possibility. That’s because you shifted the energy around you.
When there’s too much clutter, there’s also a feeling of stuckness that leads to procrastination. You end up simply treading water in your life.
Eventually that just wears you out. The good news is that you can throwing yourself a life preserver by simplifying your life. Cut through the stuff and you will find you are floating along.
This week’s challenge:
Let yourself experience the full impact of the stuff you have piled up in your space and heart and mind. Make a list of all the ways this clutter holds you back in your life. You have to wake up to the toll it takes before you can begin making sustainable changes.
Please post a comment and share:
What’s the cost of clutter in your life?
I’ve recognized how tired it makes me! Physically and mentally. I’ve been slowly de-cluttering for a year now as I have, as many other may too, years worth of ‘weight’ that holding me down.
🙂
The great news Barb is that even a little decluttering creates a lighter feeling that gives you energy to keep moving forward. Stick with it!
Hi Laurel, You are so right about clutter in every aspect of your life. My friend Pat ad I got into my basement and cleared 3/4 of it in an afternoon. I felt like a ton was shifted off my shoulders. I have also started writing my Prayers at night in my Prayer Journal, I forgot how light this makes me feel and how I can Pray for my family even if I can’t fix it. Thanks for your time and great advice. Shirley
Thanks Shirley – maybe sending your prayers out into the world helps you feel lighter because you are not dragging your worries around with you. Nice suggestion about a prayer journal!
I agree with Barb. I’ve been cleaning out ‘stuff’ trying to make space both in my head and around me. I know that when my desk has too many papers, I seem to shift thru them, sift thru them and they sometimes end up back in the same pile. When I clean out the pile and get rid of what isn’t needed, I feel less stressed.
I’ve lost quite a bit of weight in the past several months; so rather than packing away my ‘fat clothes’, I’m giving them to Good Will so they’re out of my house, out of my life and it gives me another reason to keep the weight off. Since I can’t fall back on these clothes, I have to keep progressing!
I love that you are giving away your old clothes! Someone else can make better use of them than cluttering up your space. It’s a kindness to both you and another.
Oh believe me…I’ve noticed so often just how tired clutter makes me! Even after a long day at work, I leave there with all sorts of optimistic plans for the evening (or the days off ahead). The minute I walk into my house, it’s like the life just gets sucked out of me, and I have absolutely zero motivation to do anything!!