Whether you’re struggling to figure
out how to start decluttering when you’re overwhelmed. Or if you’ve
been decluttering for a while, but are still feeling overwhelmed
then you’re in the right place. To give you a peek into my world, I’m a bit
of an overwhelmed personality type myself, so I understand the difficulty of relaxing
and quieting your frantic mind while still trying to regain control of the parts of your
life that you feel you’re losing control over. So don’t for one second think that
you’re alone with how you feel because you’re not. See, clutter is
a huge deal in most of our lives, and it can take a while to get on top of it,
especially if you have no idea where to start. So before you lose motivation and give
up hope, let’s face those stressful and frantic feelings you have head-on with these
top tips to help you start decluttering—even if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the whole idea. Number one is probably the best decluttering
tip I have yet to talk about, until now, and that is to start in the place
that will make the most difference. See, decluttering isn’t just physical—it’s
emotional and it’s mental too. And I’m not saying this to overwhelm you more, so I hope
I haven’t lost you yet. But the reason I’m bringing this up is to show you that you have
options in regards to where you start and how you start your decluttering journey. Which is really
important to take note of—let me explain why. Being overwhelmed makes it very difficult
to declutter because it’s not helpful at all to figuring out where to start, what to do, and how to do it. And this almost always
leads to something I call the “Frozen Zone.” Not to be confused with “Frozone” the
Disney, Pixar character from The Incredibles. The “Frozen Zone”—Where instead of doing something
to move our decluttering journey forward, we do nothing because we fear making things
worse and making ourselves feel more overwhelmed. So to avoid the frozen zone I’ve found it best
to start decluttering in the area where you know you’ll see results, and feel the benefits
of what you’re doing relatively quickly. This will help you feel more
motivated and energized to carry on with decluttering despite
your feelings of overwhelm. So this might be your bedroom, the bathroom,
that closet you hardly ever open, or it could be something on the emotional and mental side of
things. So, maybe you start with journaling so you can work through your thoughts and feelings before
considering letting go of anything physical. Basically, whatever is making
you the most unhappy and will make the most immediate difference in
your life is where you should start. Number two is don’t confuse
decluttering with organizing. Organizing is a great way to make your
home or space efficient. But trying to organize clutter will end up wasting both
time and money because at that point all you’re really doing is placing a band-aid
on a wound that really needs a few stitches. You're buying containers and closet
organizers, buckets, and baskets, all in an effort to make your clutter look pretty
and presentable. But at the end of the day, it’s still clutter. And it will remain
clutter until you remove the band-aid, clean the wound, and stitch it up so
nothing that is unwanted can get inside. See, when feeling overwhelmed, it’s
really easy to confuse decluttering with organizing because emotionally
all we want is to no longer feel overwhelmed. And the best way to no
longer feel this way is to simply hide our clutter—visually—through the act of
organizing. So that’s exactly what we do. But we soon realize that the overwhelm
we were hoping to eliminate through organizing is still there. It’s just
been restructured. And even though we may not see as much clutter scattered across our
home, we still feel it and deal with it daily. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed because of your
clutter, and you no longer want to feel that way. Then you have to take the time necessary to sort
and declutter first. Organizing comes second. Number three is to focus yourself. Now there are many different factors that can play into why you feel overwhelmed when
decluttering. It could be because you don’t know where to start and clutter
keeps piling up so that’s overwhelming. It could be that maybe you feel emotionally
attached to a lot of what you own and the thought of letting it go, makes you feel like you’ll
be losing a piece of you—which is overwhelming. But for the vast majority,
the feeling of overwhelm tends to stem from the simple fact that you’re
looking at all of the clutter in your life as one complete project. Rather than a group of
smaller—more emotionally manageable projects. See, regardless if you’re new to decluttering or
have been decluttering for a while, but are still feeling overwhelmed. You can’t afford to
think about everything you want to declutter, all at once, because all that’s
going to do is overwhelm you more than you already are and stop you
from making progress completely. So the best thing you can do for the sake
of your sanity and decluttering success is to focus yourself and your
efforts on one thing at a time. Think about it like this. Would you attempt to decorate your entire
house or apartment in one go? Probably not. You’d likely start and finish one room at a time
before moving on to the next. You would look at every room in your house as individual projects,
as opposed to the entire house as one big project. This is exactly how you should approach
decluttering. Focus on one room, one category, or one emotion at a
time before moving on to the next. Number four is to stop second-guessing yourself. It can be really hard not to feel
overwhelmed by the emotions that come with decluttering—especially
when it comes to sentimental items. I mean, you know your situation better
than anyone so I have a question for you. When was the last time you were straight-up second-guessing your
decision to declutter something? Comment below the item, the emotions
you were facing or are facing, and how you overcame or plan to overcome it. I’m curious about your experience, but also maybe
someone else in this community is facing the same emotions and this is an easy way to show
them that they’re not alone in how they feel. Now over the last few years
of my journey. I’ve found that the best way to stop second-guessing yourself is learning how to make confident decisions.
And for me, there are four ways to do this. Number one is to test them against your values. There are going to be many different
times in life where we have to make decisions without any sort of framework and
no way to judge between multiple choices. So when faced with a tricky or tough decision
it’s often a good idea to look at your available options and ask “Which one of these most
honors the things that mean the most to me?” You see the decision that’s most in line with your
core values will be the best decision for you. So in the context of decluttering, ask yourself:
If I donate this item or keep this item, will that decision help me live out my core
values or prevent me from fully embracing them? Now I’m a huge proponent of knowing and
embracing your core values. I keep mine at the forefront of my life and if you’re curious
about what yours are or if you need a refresh. Then there is a link in the description to
download my free clutter to clarity quick-guide. Where I give the 6 decisions you must make
to start regaining control of your life and money—one of which is prioritizing
your core values. Plus there is a free worksheet to help you identify your core
values if you don’t know what they are. Number two is to trust your gut. Look at what your intuition tells
you is the ‘right’ decision for you. Forget about all the “What ifs” and
overwhelming thoughts in your mind. Tune those things out and start listening
to what your gut is telling you. A great rule of thumb is if you’re
not at peace emotionally with your decision—regardless of what it may be—then
it's probably not the right decision for you. Number three is have "enough" information. There’s a huge difference between
knowing "enough" to make a decision, and knowing "everything" to make a
decision. And this is a very common road that many people find themselves traveling
down regardless if they feel overwhelmed or not. I’m definitely one of those people
who has gotten stuck in this trap quite a few times. Where I thought I needed to
know everything in order to make a decision. But that’s not necessarily true. You just need
to know enough to help you make the best decision for you. And that word “enough” will land
somewhere different on this scale for each of us. So again in the context of decluttering. How
much information is enough information for you to make a confident decision regarding whether
or not you should keep or donate something? Have you used it in the last 6-12 months? Do
you plan to use it in the next 6-12 months? If someone offered you money, would
you be willing to part with it? If you lost it, would you be
actively searching for a replacement? These are just a few questions that will help you gather enough information for you
to make the right decision for you. And number four is to respect your doubts. We all naturally hesitate in the face of change.
Some of us are more adept to shying away from it than others and that’s ok. The important thing
to remember here is that there is a fundamental difference between valid doubts and concerns
about a possible course of action we might take, and using doubt as an excuse to stay exactly
where we are in life and avoid change altogether. So my encouragement to you as you
stand face to face with change, decluttering and minimalism is to
respect your valid doubts and concerns, but doubt the doubts that are trying to
keep stuck living an unfulfilled life. Alright, the fifth and final
decluttering tip I have for you is to realize that this is a positive thing. Decluttering is often overthought and
overcomplicated. Which makes it really easy to feel overwhelmed in the process.
So consider thinking about it like this. Decluttering is simply taking
items that don’t belong in a space and putting them in the space they
belong. Sometimes that might be "in" your home and other times it
means it’s "gone" from your home. See regardless of what I say, you’re allowed
to keep whatever I want. It’s your decision. I’m not trying to deprive you of all of your
stuff. What I am doing is challenging you to make a change and to let go so you can easily find
and enjoy those things that matter most to you. I hope you found this conversation helpful
to your decluttering journey and if you did, share this with someone in your inner circle
that you know will find value in this as well. Keep growing, keep learning
and always start true to you. I’ll see you in the next one. Peace!
