How to stay committed when decluttering your home

When being overwhelmed stops you from decluttering your home

Picture this, …

You have decided, this time is the one: You’re going to change things around in your home, and you’re itching to let go of a LOT of stuff.

You're ready to go, over motivated. You have your sharpies, your post-its, and your trash bags. You feel like Rocky getting ready in the streets of Philadelphia. The Eye of The Tiger plays in your head. Tomorrow is the day!

But the next day, comes the doubt. Ta-dum…

You want to declutter, but you find yourself completely overwhelmed.

And you start thinking totally unhelpful thoughts like…

😫 ”I’ll never be able to do this on my own.”

or

😢 ”I will never have the time and the energy to go through everything.”

Let’s pause here.

First, breeeeaaaaath!

You're good? OK. (No? Breath again!)

Then ask yourself something….why am I doing this?

We tend to resist change…because we think we cannot stick with a new habit, we get afraid of the unknown future and resign before even trying.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Chances are, you are putting far too much pressure on your shoulder right now.

So, if this resonates with you, stop worrying and do this instead:

Two things you can do to cheer yourself up into decluttering

Firstly, make yourself a vision board and put it somewhere you see it every day.

Yep, pretty basic, but it works: every time you have doubts, losing energy and/or motivation, it will help you remember why you are doing this.

But do you want to know the BIG secret to finish your first big bang in your home?

It's simple, it's self-care. Take care of yourself throughout the whole process of decluttering your home.

Take breaks. Eat snack. If you have one, journal your thoughts and emotions. And NEVER beat yourself up, for anything. Not if there are long periods of time when you can’t find the time. Not if you wonder why you spend so much money on [insert here something expensive that never sparked joy for you]. Never!

Most importantly, celebrate your achievement! Make before/after pictures for yourself: Once done, we tend to forget the mess it was before. With the pictures, you can actually see what you have achieved decluttering and organizing your home.

This will give you momentum and more confident about your ability to change things, step by step. Be patient with yourself!

You’ve got this.

Until next time,

Nazanine

Picture by alevision.co via Unsplash