Terrifying mothers, Nancy Drew and podge.
Who are you really?
The only person who ever really knows us is ourselves. (And our mothers who have terrifyingly perceptive knowledge of our every weakness.)
When I was little I used to be terrified of EVERYTHING. I was paralysed with shyness, podgy and awkward and then I got acne! Yippee…
PodgyDorkySpottyLiz bumbled through life until one day in my early 20’s I noticed something odd. I could see between my fingers! (You know, when your fingers are side by side.) I had grown out of my podge (and dieted and exercised my arse off, but that’s another story.)
I had trouble getting my head around this fact. It took me another 20 years to no longer identify as PodgyDorkySpottyLiz.
There’s an old song The Times They Are a-Changin. Damn right they are. And so are we. It NEVER stops. It sneaks up on us sometimes, like Podgy to not-Podgy. Sometimes we suddenly shed a skin of sorts and get rid of our entire collection of Nancy Drew mysteries. Or suddenly can’t stand cartoons and start obsessing over horses.
Or you go back to school after the holidays and your friends are whispering to each other… “She’s Changed…” like you have some kind of disease.
Maybe we don’t change quite as much as adults, but big things happen to us. They can be good or bad. Having a baby, finding a partner, starting a business, divorce, death. Even if we’ve been toddling along living our life with very few hiccups, we’re still getting older and that changes us too.
Thank goodness! What would humanity do without the wisdom of age and experience? How would your life look right now if you were still your 15 year old self? (I’d still be head in a book, avoiding boys and say the word incredibly in every single sentence I spoke.)
So, if we’re not that 15 year-old, not even last-year-old, what does that mean for our present self?
Look around you.
Are you completely free to express your current self in your home? Do you have the space to do the things you want to do or is it full of things you were going to do?
Do you feel guilty about all the unfinished projects you’ve stashed away out of sight? Or do they nag at you every time you see them in the cupboard?
Are you feeling claustrophobic because you’re suddenly aware that your home seems stuffed with old things? Old family things, your kids’ old things, your old things?
These are signs that the new you needs to shed some of the old you from your environment.
So, now’s good. Tackle it when you feel it.
Sometimes though it takes – moving house, or kids leaving home or a sudden temper tantrum because you simply can’t squeeze another single thing into your home – for us to grab the opportunity to shed the things that are no longer us.
You could also do it regularly. Spring cleaning is a great time, and decluttering just seems to come naturally at the change of the seasons.
It may be a huge amount of things that you feel like getting rid of. Or it might just be a few. But it will feel good. It will feel right.
If it doesn’t, you might not be ready to move past that phase of your life. If you’d really like to declutter though, you can try choosing something easier.
If you’d really love to move past an old time, an old you or move into a whole new life but it’s just too hard you might need a hand.
Decluttering projects, habits, old thought patterns, old stuff that you’ve grown out of, not only frees you from what was, it opens a path to what you would like to be. That is the secret.
It’s not just about throwing things away. It’s about you and your life. And the gift of decluttering.
A whole new life, a change for the better, a refreshed home and a new vision of your future.
x
Liz.
It’s the salesy bit!
Yes! The bit where I tell you that if you’d like some real, nitty-gritty, practical decluttering and home organising advice…. call me!
All I want is for you to be happy with your home. If you’re not, let’s find out why and fix it! You can reach me here:
That’s it really. There’s so much you can do yourself, go on, pick my brain!
X
Liz.
