Clutter and Hoarding – The Emotional Whiplash of Letting Go

Have you ever felt so proud of yourself for letting go of some of your clutter, only to find inside your heart you felt sadness? Many of my clients have expressed that while they were very happy they had made progress in their journey of releasing their clutter, they also felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. I am going to explain why this sadness is real and give a couple ideas how to help release that feeling. You may find this helps in many other aspects of life as well.

Several of my clients have mentioned to me that the sadness that they feel after reaching a marked goal in releasing their clutter is overwhelming and painful. I have thought this through and would like to use the example of being in a car accident. In a car accident, your adrenaline is high and you feel a euphoric high as your endorphins go crazy. You may not notice the physical pains that are going on as you may have been injured and haven’t even realized it yet. The pain of the whiplash may not show up for days or weeks.

It is the same principal when working personal growth. As you achieve a new level of awareness, you may be feeling very proud of yourself. You may feel happy with your new success. And then all of a sudden, you feel so sad and you just can’t understand why. The endorphins have slowed. And now you may find yourself feeling an emotional whiplash.

I have often likened this to the dying of the old lower self. You are becoming a new being with a new level of awareness. You are becoming your true self, your higher self. Many find it very difficult to let go of their old lower self with the limiting beliefs and fears. I have some suggestions that may help in this process. My clients have had great success with this. Several have said that with these methods, they are able to better handle the emotional whiplash.

You may even realize that the shift in the mind may have been about a story or situation that had nothing to do with the clutter that was released. More importantly, the limiting or self-sabotaging belief or thought had been holding you back for so long.

This emotional whiplash is normal and can easily be released through understanding and positive self-talk. It is important to remind yourself of how great you felt when you first achieved this new growth. It is also equally important to remind yourself of your goals and how this is just one step in the process of getting there.

Many of my clients have found that by using hypnotherapy to get in touch with the underlying feelings and emotions, they are then able to release them in a less painful manner. It is important to be gentle and kind to yourself. Personal growth is a process that is to be done for our entire life, not something that we can jump into and expect to be perfect. Improving the process is the goal, not an end-result perfection.