quality lifestyle

What if I Get Sidetracked?

Don’t worry about getting sidetracked in your decluttering efforts. I mean it. You can’t be perfect, no one can. If this were really easy for you and you had no issues about decluttering, then you would have a decluttered home naturally. But you are a member of 15% of the population that is cluttered. That’s a lot of people, meaning millions and millions of people. You are probably very, very good and very fast at other things. This happens not to be one of them. That’s ok because no one is perfect.

So if you find yourself getting sidetracked, just start this moment right now. Right now. So don’t think of the past, just what you will do in this moment. Perhaps you’ll declutter, or rest, or eat, or something else. What do you want to do in this exact moment? Don’t think of the past or the future.

Here’s a metaphor for not thinking about the past, about what you haven’t done. When you drive a car, do you only look in the rear view mirror? No! Would you only look a mile ahead of you? No! So pay attention to where you are, to the road just ahead of you. This is the “present moment”. Forget the past and don’t focus on the future. Focus on the present. What do you want to do right now?

What if My Progress is Painfully Slow?

I understand this very much. The best thing I can say is to “keep on truckin’!” Remind yourself that you are “On the Path of Organizing”. This is a PROCESS, not an end result. Yes, it takes time and in the beginning you might not see as much improvement as you would like. But just keep chugging along and at some point, you’ll begin to actually SEE the improvement.

Sometimes you need to remind yourself to trust and have faith in yourself and/or the process. Remind yourself to keep focusing away from judgmental thoughts. Just keep on moving and try not to judge how far along you are or aren’t. The negative thoughts may slow you down, so better to have either neutral or positive thoughts.

What if I Go Backwards?

This is a fear that some people have and something that many people do experience. This is part of the emotional issue of clutter, which is the one of perfectionism and negative self-image. It’s OK. Going backwards is normal, and it happens to most people. The solution is to go back to doing the decluttering or emotional support techniques. Typically, when a person begins to go backwards, s/he immediately begins to feel like a failure or that the process is a failure. This is just negative, perfectionist thinking. Instead, simply notice that it is happening, and then go back to the techniques

A metaphor to use to help with this is the “Path of Orderliness.” Imagine that you are on a path that is moving toward orderliness. Sometimes you step off the path, but you just step right back on, gently and easily, without judgment. Sometimes you stop and smell the roses and sometimes you might even go backwards on the path. But that’s OK. You have time and patience. You understand that you are human and normal. You relax into the process. And as you relax, you may even begin to enjoy the process.