Decluttering the Mental Mess: A closet cleanout
The Closet Clean out a metaphor for my mental clutter.
My husband and I had decided to move his office from our basement guest bedroom to one of our upstairs guest rooms. He was excited to get started. I felt overwhelmed. I knew what was in that closet. It was stuffed full of pillows, curtains, paint, boxes of tax stuff, picture frames, workbooks from my certification course. Stuffed, stuffed and I just didn’t want to take it all out. I was tired. I was embarrassed. I kept a clean house….but my closets in those rooms were packed full of years of stuff. And the clean out would not be so simple as we had to clean out the basement guest bedroom closet too in order to move things from one room to another. And the closet in my own office which was stuffed with kids toys for my childcare kiddos was going to need to be cleaned out too in order for all of their items from that guest room and the overflow from my office closet to be housed in one location, the basement.
I felt overwhelmed because it wasn't one closet. I felt overwhelmed because on the surface I hate clutter. All the other areas in our home are clean and organized but those are darn closets. I felt overwhelmed because I had a ton of thoughts that were creating overwhelm in my life and it felt really crappy.
So I threw a fit. I literally said I can’t do this. I fought tears of shame as I stormed into my bedroom, layed down on my bed and pulled the covers over my head. And I breathed. And I thought. Why is this such a problem? My coaching brain asked? Where is this shame coming from? I have thoughts that it is not ok to have such a hidden mess. That my husband would be upset with how stuffed I make closets.
It was just thoughts. Thoughts that did not serve me. That did not allow me to get the closets cleaned. So I took a few breaths and I thought…. This is just stuff. I can manage it.
I don’t want to put this back in the closet. I want to deal with it. And It hit me. My thoughts can be outside of me, I don’t have to allow them to rule my mind and cause any more drama. Just like all of the stuff in the closet, I can do a thought download and get it all out. Once it’s out I can sort through them and just decide. This is not a big deal, there is no need to feel overwhelmed. It’s just stuff. There is nothing to be ashamed of. It's just stuff.
When we get it all out, we can see it and deal with it. Get the stuff out. Deal with it. You have a choice of stuffing it all back in (buffering with other things in order to ignore that yucky feeling) Or you can just choose to deal with it. You get to decide to let them just go! The feeling will not crush you if you allow it.
You are not too exhausted to get everything put back in one day. You get to work on it a little at a time. But this is how you move the negative thinking out. You have a new way of looking at it.
What areas in your life do you keep putting off? Where do you want to grow , change, develop? Do you want a life that is stuffed with junk? Or do you want to be free?
Message me if you'd like to learn more about how life coaching can help you gain some ground with mental clutter.