Cleaning Out the Clutter: Clearing Space for New Beginnings

Have you ever held onto something for far too long, only to realize it weighed you down emotionally? Have you considered that clutter in your environment could be holding you back? Join me as I recount the heart-wrenching yet liberating experience of decluttering my space and rediscovering old treasures, like a wedding album from my first marriage and childhood photographs. With the unwavering support of a dear friend, I navigated the emotional ups and downs of letting go of the past to make room for new beginnings. This episode is a testament to the power of emotional cleansing and the importance of acknowledging how past beliefs, especially about creativity, can shape our self-perception.

We also dive deep into how childhood experiences, particularly those involving scarcity and money, can create an attachment to physical possessions. You'll hear personal stories about tackling the clutter in my garage and the emotional rollercoaster of sorting through mementos, all brought into sharper focus after attending a friend's mother's celebration of life. This heartfelt conversation underscores the unpredictability of life and the importance of stepping into one's authenticity. Tune in for an inspiring discussion on releasing what no longer serves us and embracing positive changes. Let's embark on this transformative journey together and create a life full of joy and authenticity.

Chapters

• 0:00 Emotional Decluttering and Letting Go
• 10:45 Authenticity and Emotional Cleansing
• 18:44 Embracing Authenticity and Emotional Release

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:34

Welcome to the Pure Possibilities podcast and welcome back if you listen in every week and welcome if you're new to the show. I really appreciate you taking the time to tune in and listen and hopefully you gain a nugget or two that can help you make it through your days. So this week has been a pretty emotional week for me. I have been focused on decluttering my house and there's a lot of emotions that come with that. I had been I don't know for a while. There's been like I've got boxes in my garage and my shed that have just been there for years. Like, do you have that? They moved with me every time I would move. I've been in my current house for like 14 years now, but these boxes are just filled with stuff. Do you have that? I can't imagine that I'm the only one, but these boxes would move every single move with me and then they get put in the garage or in a closet or whatever and they just sit there and I don't do anything with the things that are in the boxes. So the question is do I really need those things? Well, yes, some of it I do and some of it I don't. It's a matter of you know. There's obviously sentimental value to some things and then some of it is just junk, honestly. So I've been trying to be better about really keeping the things that I actually need and use. So I have a friend who has been helping me go through some of my stuff and I wasn't expecting the emotions to happen that were happening for me.

Speaker 1: 2:24

This last week I pulled out it's like what's in your box? You have no idea. I have no idea what's going to be in each box that I would open. I grabbed a box and I opened it and it had a wedding album in it from my first wedding when I was 18 years old and it had like the invitation and all the, all the things in it and I realized that it was time to let go. Like, clearly, I let go of that relationship a very long time ago, but I kept moving that box with me every time and it's just stayed there and I got really emotional and I was like what is going on? Like I'm not attached to this marriage. I'm not attached to this marriage, I'm not attached to that relationship. I'm not.

Speaker 1: 3:21

But I think for me, I always believed that you don't throw away pictures. You don't get rid of those memories. Even we have good memories and bad memories and whatever. But you keep that stuff. That's always kind of been my belief. But you don't have to. It's okay to let go.

Speaker 1: 3:40

And I just started crying and my friend came over and like, are you okay? Like no, I'm not Okay. It's just full of emotion and tears. And I allow myself to cry without judging it. But I wasn't expecting to feel what I was feeling. It was like sadness, and while my life has gone down a different path, I opened another box that had childhood photos in it.

Speaker 1: 4:12

So then I started having all of, like this overload of memories coming over me, which wasn't a bad thing, but it was just, it was kind of a lot, you know. And so, anyway, my friend had said to me you know, sometimes we need to let go, to allow other things to come in, other things and people to come into our life, and this is something that I know. But sometimes it's helpful to have that reminder, especially when you're like in the middle of it. But oh my gosh, I've taken trips to the dump, we have taken things to Goodwill and donated it, and it feels really good, like my garage is much cleaner now and working on getting organized. There's still more that needs to go.

Speaker 1: 5:03

But the other interesting thing was I had taken cake decorating classes like 20 something years ago, before my son was born, and so we came across all this cake decorating stuff and I used to do like memory books, photo albums with I don't know artsy craftsy stuff. And my friend was like, and you think that you're not artistic and creative? Like you have all of this stuff and I'm like, yeah, well, a lot of it hasn't even been opened. I've got like a decorative punch, like paper punch hole punch kit Never opened, you know, but it was. So it has just been an interesting week because it had me getting curious and just taking a look back at some of my beliefs about things you know, when it comes to being a creative person, because now I'm obviously stepping into a lot of creativity.

Speaker 1: 6:00

But I had a belief like my mom had a ceramic studio when I was growing up and she would teach ceramics classes. It was out of our house and then at one point I did some teaching with my friends, you know I would have a class and people would come and I would teach, and I don't even know how old I was 12, 13. I don't know, I was pretty freaking young, but I always admired my mom's painting skills because I never felt like I didn't have that, and so for some reason in my mind, I believed that she was really artistic and I wasn't, because I didn't have that skill and so I would put myself into this. I guess I just, for some reason I didn't realize that creativity comes in so many different forms. I think I just never really put a lot of thought into it and in my mind that was what being creative was, you know, being able to paint and do. And now I'm obviously very much open to other possibilities of creativity and learning how to really express myself, which has been so much fun that I am letting go of that belief.

Speaker 1: 7:21

That wasn't necessarily the path I intended to go with this, but and sometimes we need to let go of our past to move forward with the future that we want to create and in addition to that, when you're living in, like my regular living space is pretty clean and organized and I don't have a lot of stuff around, but my office has a lot of paperwork in it, and so I was going through a lot of that. But when your environment is cluttered and chaotic, it can have a real negative impact on your mindset, and so when you can clear and cleanse your surroundings, it truly does help with mental shifts, in helping you feel better. So I was reading it. I was either reading something or listening to a podcast. I think I was reading something and it talked about unfortunately, I'm not able to give credit to whoever it was because I don't recall specifically, but they talked about going through and getting rid of or donating or you know whatever. Um, 27 things a day for nine days in a row. I was like, huh, it sounds like a lot, but you know, we just acquire and accumulate things, and I was finding, you know, had duplicates of things, because sometimes you have so much stuff that if you need something and you can't find it, you buy it again.

Speaker 1: 8:57

But I was raised in a house where we had a lot of stuff everywhere. When my parents ended up moving several years ago, it was really overwhelming for me to go through all this stuff and help with that, and so that kind of what kickstarted me a few years ago doing an initial purge in my house, and so my main living space, like I said, is pretty organized. But then I had my floors done and some painting done in my house a few years ago, and so I just shoved everything in boxes so I could get it ready for the work to be done, and then it just has ended up in boxes and so now it's like, okay, it's time to say goodbye, it's time to let go. But when you choose to do that, it really is important to allow yourself to feel whatever you're feeling. And I was telling my friend I'm like lucky you that you are around when I'm learning how to feel the fuck out of my feelings because and they were like it's totally fine, you're good, you know. But I I would say I'm definitely not a decluttering specialist by any means, or organizer, but I think it's important to you know start with a space that you're going to make some progress in in a pretty quick manner and so that you can help to motivate you to keep going. Because then you know, maybe pick a room or somewhere in your home that you use on a regular basis that when it's clean and organized, you're going to feel so much better every time you walk into that space. You know.

Speaker 1: 10:46

Obviously I'm diving into the depths of other areas, but sometimes I think what is it? Marie Kondo? You know you think the things that you're getting rid of. I know I was talking with. I was talking with somebody and they were saying how you know, they hold on to things and you know some of that can go back to beliefs from childhood about like a scarcity mindset of you. Know, I don't know about you, but my family didn't have a lot of money growing up and so there were lots of comments about money and not being able to have things, and so sometimes I believe that we hold on to things that we don't necessarily need anymore because we're afraid that we won't be able to have that again. And that's like deep-rooted, subconscious level stuff, you know.

Speaker 1: 11:39

But it's really asking yourself do I need this, do I want it, do I even use it? And then you know gifting it. You can gift it to other people, whether it's through donations or whatever, and allow somebody else to be able to use whatever that is. I came across a really beautiful set of crystal dishes. No, they weren't dishes, they were like dessert things, dessert containers that were crystal and beautiful and that little spoons, and they were gorgeous. But literally they were gifted to me several years ago and they're beautiful, but I didn't really have anywhere to put them, and so they've literally been in a box in my garage for probably 10 years. You know why not allow somebody else to be able to use those? They're beautiful and I loved them, but I didn't necessarily need them, you know.

Speaker 1: 12:32

I think another thing is that we hold onto things that people have given us because they gave it to us, and we don't want to feel bad for letting it go, but you know, it's okay. It's okay. Sometimes people gift us things that we don't necessarily need, want or desire, and it's okay to let it go. We don't need to hold on to things just because somebody gave it to us. I don't know if that's helpful for you, but clearing your space and sometimes it can feel overwhelming, but allow yourself to feel whatever you're feeling, and if you're gonna cry, cry and it's okay, and let go of the things that are no longer serving you. So that is where we're at today.

Speaker 1: 13:18

I do have to tell you, though, even just walking into my office, I've done a lot of work in here and I was like, oh, this feels good. I walked into my garage and I'm like, oh, my gosh, okay. So here's the deal, literally a couple of weeks ago, I had gone to the grocery store and I pulled into my driveway and my yard was a mess I usually have somebody that comes and cuts my lawn for me and the yard was a mess. My porch is falling apart. My garage is a disaster. I was driving in and out of my garage when my truck was in the shop a few weeks ago, and normally it's like that whole out of sight, out of mind. I don't really ever go into my garage because I don't park my truck in there, but I was parking my other car in there and so I would go in and out every day and I'm like, oh my God, it's such a disaster.

Speaker 1: 14:01

And it started to just feel like this is ridiculous, I need to do something about this, and so that's kind of what prompted all of my. I reached out to my friend and I'm like I need some help. I need help. So not only was I asking for help, which has historically been something difficult for me that I am continuing to work on, I am letting go. Letting go of the things, the memories you know, all of our memories, or all the experiences, create who we are, and I don't have any regrets of how my life has gone. It's been an interesting ride and a lot of lessons learned, but also a really beautiful experience. Definitely not where I expected to be, but now I get to be surprised and delighted all the time at how my path is unfolding.

Speaker 1: 14:56

I did come across a bunch of pictures from my childhood, which I don't remember a lot of my childhood, but there's this one picture Maybe I'll put it on the podcast cover art, but it was a. It was fun to look back and to remember that five and a half year old little girl and look at her then and look at her now. So, in addition to all, I was coming across all these photos and everything of my childhood and I attended a celebration of life for one of my friend's moms who passed away. I've known my friend since we were like we've been friends since we were two years old and her parents were like second parents to me, and so over the weekend I attended her celebration of life and it was really beautiful to be able to connect with all of these people that I haven't seen since I was really little.

Speaker 1: 15:59

But so many emotions this week, so many emotions and just memories coming up and just allowing myself to process all of that and be with those emotions, be with those feelings and let them out and express them and just remembering that all of our experiences in our life lead us to where we are right now. All of the decisions, all of the choices, everything, all of the choices, everything. It's just a matter of allowing ourselves to be open to the lessons that we learn and the experiences and have it be okay. But sometimes life doesn't go down the path that you expect when you're a kid and allow it to unfold exactly as it's meant to, because it always does. So, all right, we're going to pull a card from the magic of what if? Card deck. So these are available on my website at pure possibilitiesnet. And, yeah, I'm excited. I've already started working on the next deck, or at least what I'm going to put on the deck. I've got a couple of artistic ideas for it too. So here we go.

Speaker 1: 17:23

All right, today's what if? What if I unapologetically step into my authenticity? What if I unapologetically step into my authenticity? That's a beautiful one. It kind of goes along with clearing and cleansing and back to childhood and the fun and just being, just being me and allowing myself to just be me and letting go of things that aren't in alignment with who I am and allowing myself to be who I am, figuring out who that is, and allowing allowing myself to remember who I am and be the fullest expression of myself. And when you can be the fullest expression of yourself and be with the people that allow you to just be you, you know that's really important. Surround yourself with people that allow you to just be yourself without judgment, and be authentic to yourself.

Speaker 1: 18:45

I know that that word gets I feel like it's overused a lot, but you know why can't we just be who we are and have that be okay? Hold back our judgment of other people. Everybody's doing the best they can. We're all working through the shit you know. Be authentically. You have fun, go through your stuff, declutter your house and your life and your living space and your whatever, and live the best life that you and allow yourself to release and let go of the things that it's time to let go of. If you have any comments, feel free to text the show. There's a link in the show description. I would love to hear from you and I hope you have a beautiful, beautiful day. Much love.