[When life feels cluttered]
Has your life ever felt so cluttered that you knew there was just something that had to give?
I've found myself in this place so many times throughout my life. I am 100% that person who can't focus on work if my bedroom or nightstand is cluttered (this can be so difficult running a business from home).
Normally my life is just filled to the brim with so many commitments and jobs. I used to find myself just saying yes more often than I should have.
This past year has been so different for me. My entire pace has been slower, in a good way.
I have adored pursuing my business full time and even more so raising my FIVE (!!) months old & taking on the daunting task of being a mom.
The clutter I feel these days looks different than when I was an Resident Director, running my business on the side, and pursuing my master's degree.
But nevertheless I still found myself the other day with that all too familiar cluttered feeling that had nothing to do with the state of my house or earthly belongings.
It was mental and it was spiritual and it was creatively. My mind and soul were bogged down and cluttered and I needed to take the time to sort it all out and find away to get my thoughts and soul organized.
My sweet friend Kayla encouraged me to have a physical representation of decluttering to go along with the spiritual & mental and I knew EXACTLY what that needed to be for me:
MY DESKTOP. so. bad. so incredibly cluttered. I first and foremost took the time to physically organize my desktop. I deleted unwanted files, backed up others, and exited SO many programs and SO many tabs.
I felt immediate relief, but knew there was still work to do. Here's what I did to declutter & mend my anxious and cluttered heart:
1. Writing things down
Being mentally/spiritually/creatively cluttered one of the BEST things I can do for myself is take the time to write it all out. This looks different depending on where my thought are. Sometimes I need to write down lists or goals. Sometimes I need to write down full thoughts for pages and pages. This time, it was bullet journaling (I will post about how I bullet journal later on- it's been life changing for me so far in 2017!) This was a good start for me to start decluttering and processing everything in the right direction.
2. P R A Y E R
Being absolutely honesty and vulnerable with you all pretty much 100% if the times where I'm cluttered on the inside it can be traced back to my lack of time communing with the Lord and spending time in His word. Taking an intentional time to talk with him about the clutter is a sure fire way to ease the anxieties that comes along with it. I've taken the time to ask Him for peace, clarity, and wisdom and really and truly the Lord cares about these things and He doesn't abandon us. So grateful for a Savior that meets me right where I'm at and keeps no record of the amount of times I've abandoned Him. In Jesus' name.
3. Externally processing & vocalizing dreams and goals
If you know me, you know I am an EXTREME internal processor. This can be detrimental to the clutter because I'm not always aware when I've been internalizing something. It's imperative for me personally to be intentional to externally process to my people (you know, the ones that get you and can help make sense of something even if it doesn't to you) shout out to all of you fab humans I have in my life. So grateful for your patience and love for this internal gal.
4. I WENT OUTSIDE
As crazy as it may seem, I can absolutely tell when my soul is cooped up and cluttered because I haven't been outside in awhile. Sometimes this is due to rain or traveling or just being SUPER BUSY; but when I take the time to go outside (which truly does happen pretty much every day) I have immediate relief. Whether walking or running (always with my little dude these days) I have the opportunity to think, pray, tangibly see the Lord's creation, and really just the fresh air in my lungs and sunshine in my face does me wonders!
That's me.
I'm curious though, what do you guys do to reduce internal clutter that's different or similar to me? Always looking for suggestions over here!
PS- here's my after shot of my desktop. This is the stuff of minimilistic dreams right here!
