When I sold my four bedroom house and moved into a small one bedroom apartment, I discovered quite a few things and I believe these lessons are Tidy Tutor Worthy to share with you.
First off…… I tried to rid myself of everything I didn’t need. I still had quite a bit of stuff. Even though it DOES fit in my apartment…… I was frustrated that I was spending so much time setting up house. Somehow I felt that it was wrong. I speak often about how we do not want to spend most of our time managing our things.
But I learned that this was different.
The pendulum always swings from one extreme to the other before it falls in a balance.
Here is what happened in my thinking.
I know that most of us have MORE than we NEED. Even me, who works so hard at minimizing and living with less.
(If you watch any of the videos that I have, on my home page, www.TheTidyTutor.Com you can see a little series about minimalism).
What I discovered when I was seeking out minimalism was that I had things that I didn’t need, and didn’t even want anymore. I kept them simply because I felt like they were a part of my identity and also because they fit in my home.
Why should I get rid of these greeting cards? They fit here.
Why get rid of the paper cutter? It is fine in this office area.
Why take these shelves down and do something different with my porch? I like the porch!
But the thing was…… I didn’t NEED the paper cutter, I didn’t need all of those greeting cards, and I wanted to do something different with my porch.
This is when the big realization came to me. I thought to myself, WAIT! If I want to do something to my porch, but I won’t because my things have more power over me than they should…. then something isn’t right here, and I began on a journey.
When I moved into my one bedroom apartment I started feeling like, WAIT! I am spending way too much time on stuff! But this is what I realized……that even way back in the “Little House of the Prairie” days, when they had very little things, they still took a lot of time to make a home. Of course I know that they actually had to cut down trees and build a home, but even so, having a place that you call home, and making it your own is something that really does require time and consideration, and it’s OK! This is what I meant when I said that the pendulum swings from one extreme to the other before it lands in the middle.
I went from having things and being fine…… to not wanting to have anything because I felt like they were controlling me until where I am now, realizing that it really is a journey.
Life is a journey, and it doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as there is joy & happiness while we are on our way.
When we stop being happy on our journey, that is when we need to be concerned.
While I do believe that our number one obstacle is too much stuff, (you cannot organize clutter). If we want our lives to be streamlined and organized, we have to consider first; do we have more than we need? Do we have more than fits in the space that we live in?
If you have things in your home that are manageable (as in, they all fit in your space) then take your time (of course you could take your time no matter what), but if you have way too much stuff, taking your time is going to cost ya.
You really have to take some big girl steps and see what it is that you really want, and then go after it. If you want to write a book, go back to college, start a business? If you want to have another baby, or get married; if there is anything that you want, but the mess is standing in your way, then you have to get serious.
Being happy most often requires some work. We don’t like to do work, but we do like to be happy 🙂
I think I started rambling, so that’s it for this Motivation Monday.
Let me know what you think.
Much Love!
Kathy
PS. Want to get organized? Haven’t taken Tidy Tutor University? Get started now!
