HEALTHY LIFESTYLE · APRIL 2017
HOW PURGING PHYSICAL CLUTTER GOT RID OF MY EMOTIONAL CLUTTER TOO
When I decided to get rid of 80 % of my belongings and majorly downsize my life , it was for a specific reason .
To move into a 160 square foot tiny house .
I had become enraptured with the idea of tiny houses after watching the documentary , " Tiny ," on Netflix and had been making plans for my own tiny house ever since .
So , as my house was being built a few hours away , I took on the task of going through ALL of my life ' s belongings and narrowing it down as much as possible . ( Do you know how small 160sf really is ?) The funny thing was , at no point during my downsizing journey , did I feel scared or freaked out at the stuff I was getting rid of . I had really come to a point where I wanted to make a significant shift in my lifestyle and my perspective on life , so once I decided that there was no turning back !
of the blue . I started having trouble sleeping , had major GI issues , headaches , dizziness , heart palpitations and worst of all , debilitating fatigue that made it difficult for me to even get through a regular day . I also had surgery , dental work , long work hours , a hostile work environment and a poor diet at that time , which I didn ' t know mattered … but it did .
Then , the final blow came in September 2013 , when my mom ( who was also my BFF ) passed away after a six-month battle with cancer . Needless to say , it was a LOT to process . And as it turns out , I guess my body didn ' t process it all too well .
I ended up with advanced adrenal fatigue ( hence the myriad of symptoms I was experiencing ) and had to start some serious lifestyle changes to start healing – things like cleaning up my diet , going to bed at a decent time and sleeping until 9 , taking naps , meditating and doing neuromuscular exercises .
I think I was just in a good place to actually be able to handle those feelings and more importantly , I was ready to be done with them and let them go . In fact , I think that ' s why God orchestrated all of this stuff in my life to happen at the same time .
Sure , it was overwhelming sometimes . Like the day that I went through TOO much at once and had a bit of a grief meltdown that night . But even then , it was an emotion that I needed to feel and release , so I could finally move on . Plus , I had a pretty significant realization during those moments of going through my more sentimental items . I realized that those things were just that – things . And not the actual person or place that I was missing .
I realized that I didn ' t need to hold on to them , to hold on to the memories and love that I had for the person they were attached to . And I realized that the sooner I was ready to let these things go really , the sooner I could be living a freer , healthier , happier and more stressfree life . Which I ' m pretty sure my passed loved ones would want for me anyway .
But , one thing did end up surprising me about my de-cluttering process . How purging my physical stuff ended up helping me to purge a lot of emotional stuff too . Let me back up for a minute . See , I had been through quite a slew of traumatic events over the course of about four years .
First , I was in a relationship that was emotionally ( and at times , physically ) abusive . It ' s one of those things that you think will never happen to you , yet there I was , in an abusive relationship for just under four years . So every day , day in and day out , I was living at the absolute max of my adrenaline .
Then , right when I finally got up the nerve to finally leave for good , my father passed away . On a side note , my father and my ex-fiancé were very much alike , so needless to say ; it did a number on me mentally to " lose " them both at the same time .
Then there was a short period of time where I thought things were getting better … but during that time , my health started to plummet out
Slowly but surely , I could feel the new routines starting to make a difference . One thing I never would ' ve expected , though , was how my downsizing and decluttering process would play into my physical healing too .
But it did .
Because as I went through tons of old possessions – photos , keepsakes , clothes , jewelry , books , journals – all kinds of things with sentimental value and memories attached , I was FORCED to go through my emotional junk too .
Seeing things that reminded me of my mom , my dad , old friendships , my ex or even my dog that had passed away , obviously brought up a lot of feelings . But instead of pushing them down or distracting myself ( like I would have in the past ), I actually let myself feel them .
You may not have had a string of traumatic events in your life ( I can only hope you haven ' t !) or even any yet if you ' re lucky . But chances are , if you are holding on to any amount of clutter , you probably have some kind of emotions attached to it . Even if it ' s just guilt , frustration or procrastination .
And you can release those emotions too through physical purging . Getting rid of the things that you meant to use , thought you ' d use or felt obligated to use … will make room for you ( both physically and mentally ) to actually do the things you WANT to do !
In fact , the emotional freedom and release you will feel from physically purging your clutter might just surprise you . So what are you waiting for ?
Go start de-cluttering NOW !
By Jenn of Live a F . A . S . T Life
18 HEALTHY MAGAZINE