Simplifying My Life and Creating My Space - My Vision

Just the other day I read the introduction to Julie Morgenstern's book When Organizing Isn't Enough: SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life and was struck by how directly it applies to me as I continue the journey to whatever lies ahead for me.  To wit:

"Organizing works when you know where you are going but don't know how to get there. But when you are feeling stuck in your life, when you are in transition and unsure of where you're going next . . . organizing is not enough."
...
"When you need or want to change something about your life, when you are going through a transition and are struggling to relinquish something that represents the past, you don't need to organize - you need to SHED."

Julie goes on to explain that "SHED is a transformative process for letting go of things that represent the past so you can grow and move forward".

How uncanny is that?  I took this huge leap last Fall in leaving my law practice to pursue my place in the creative world and yet I'm feeling stuck lately.  It's not so much that I'm holding on to my law practice (although I do have a couple boxes of books and materials I will go ahead and toss).  No, it's bigger than that.  I don't pretend to know exactly what's holding me back, but my physical space is anything but conducive to the creative process.  And I do have a lot of "stuff" weighing me down.

Fulfilling my vision of my personal space is going to require some sweat and probably some tears, too, as I have a lot of stuff I'm tied to emotionally - and only emotionally - that probably needs to go in order to achieve the space that I crave AND to be able to move forward on my journey.  I must say -- just thinking about it makes me more than a bit anxious.  Stay tuned, this topic is to be continued....

[Watch Julie's video about SHED-ing here.]

I've also been following a couple of bloggers on their journeys to de-clutter and simplify their lives in 2010.  The two I am primarily following are Reduce Clutter Create Space from Shannon Kinney of Free Spirit Knits and Jess's Makeunder My Life.  Today, Jess introduced her Makeunder My Marchseries and re-posted her 4-step make-under process, which appears to tie in nicely with Julie's SHED process.  [You can read about the 4 steps here: 1 Create A Vision, 2 Exfoliate Stuff, 3 Identify Intentions, 4 Reflect and Evolve.] 

Now that's a lot to take in at one time, but I was inspired to create a vision board for my personal space, my home:

Isn't it beautiful?  And it really does summarize my vision for my space in 2010:  Uncluttered, organized, simplified, stress-free, revealing space to create and be joyfully me.  Sounds Heavenly!

I've already started chipping away at my road blocks, too.  Yesterday I cleaned out the inside storage space of my coffee table.  Today I spent about an hour in the basement vacuuming up the dust and debris that tends to accumulate in the most ignored room in my house.  So I'm off to a good start taking baby steps -- even though these tasks did take more than 20 minutes a day!

 

Comments

[Mridula]

I really like this post Melony. Speaks to me because I am in exactly the same place transition-wise. But I am paralysed by inaction and I can feel the pressure mounting to do something- anything. Today I am using all my will power to get up form the computer and actually organise and declutter.

[ZoeAnn Yussman]

This post is screaming "ZOEANN PAY ATTENTION"... although we shed much stuff when we moved 2 yrs ago, I still have boxes of stuff from the past...that emotional baggage stuff...I know I should get rid of it, just paralyzed and don't.

I am going to look at all the books, blogs you mentioned. I WILL de clutter and shed my issues this year!!

Thanks Melanie for your shove.

[Melony]

Mridula & ZoeAnn - I am so with you my friends!!! I, too, suffer from occassional paralysis - especially when it comes to purging "stuff". But I must say that it feels soooo good now that I've gotten started. It's all in the baby steps! And the first steps are always the hardest.

Another organizing blog you might want to checkout:
http://thirdhandworks.com/blog/

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