If you’re just getting started with the decluttering habit, it can be overwhelming — there’s so much of it, in so many rooms and closets!
Many people become intimidated by this and don’t even start.
Others get started enthusiastically, but then get discouraged because after a week they’ve barely made a dent.
Are you feeling overwhelmed, intimidated, discouraged? Let’s talk about how to deal with all of this.
I’d like you to visualize for a moment an old man who sets out to walk up a mountain path. Now, he can’t sprint up the mountain and must take small, slow steps. And he’s got a long way to go.
He could become intimidated by this and never set out. Or discouraged after a few hours because he’s not making much progress. Overwhelmed by how much he still has to do.
Or … he could just enjoy where he is, every step along the way. He takes one step at a time, and each moment, enjoys that place. All along the path are birds, trees, wind, sunlight, streams, flowers, animals. This is a beautiful place to be, no matter where he is, and the key to not being overwhelmed or discouraged for him is to enjoy where he is, all along the way.
Eventually he gets to the end, but by then it doesn’t even matter. He’s enjoyed the path, the whole time.
That’s you, on your decluttering journey. There’s no perfect end point where your life is completely decluttered. Getting there is beside the point.
Instead, enjoy each small decluttering session as a beautiful place to be, in and of itself. Do 10 minutes at a time, a small step each day, and don’t worry where you’re going or how much further you have to go. Just enjoy that step. That single decluttering session.
It’s a wonderful journey, if you learn to enjoy where you are.