Why Learning to Declutter Isn't Enough For a Happy Home

I spend a lot of time teaching you how to declutter various areas of your home, and I do believe that it's a necessary step for you to take to create a home that truly supports you

That's the goal, after all!

But I never want people to think that throwing out the clutter is the end-all-be-all. Truthfully, learning to declutter isn't enough.

Almost 10 years ago, I was at an all-time low and major crossroads in my life ... but let’s back up a second so I can tell you how I got there in the first place.

You may have heard the quote by Annie Dillard, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

It’s one of those simple truths that hold a lot of weight. Well, this exact realization is what led to my breaking point.

How we spend our minutes matters

My days felt wasted. In fact, I straight-up didn’t like my minutes!

• Always rushed and running late, constantly losing and forgetting things
• A baseline of stress, frustration, and exhaustion
• Cleaning and yelling (usually about the cleaning)
• Working, competing, and pushing for more money (essentially, so I could buy more things)
• Rushing through meals - or skipping them altogether
• Feeling guilty all the time for yelling or not spending enough time with my kids
• Trying to calculate exactly how few hours a human could sleep and still function 🤔
• Headaches, anxiety, and bouts of depression
• Believing in my heart that "this is life"...

Those were my minutes.

To be honest, I can't even fathom living that way today. It seems so unnecessary and just sad that I ever thought that was okay.

Not to burst your bubble, but…you have a perception bubble

We all have a perception bubble.

We naturally think that everyone experiences life as we do and that the way we experience things at any given point is the ONLY way we CAN experience them.

If life is hard, then we say “that’s just life”. But really, that’s just our perception.

It’s kind of like our own little biomes with an atmosphere of stories and experiences.

When I was going through those years of hating my minutes I would occasionally bounce up against that perception bubble wall and question EVERYTHING.

Why was I struggling and pushing so hard? What was I killing myself for?

I would question my routines and priorities, but as soon as I turned my head I would get sucked right back into the grind of the way things were.

It’s hard to make real change and that’s exactly why most people don’t do it, at least not until a tragedy or situation forces them to.

It took losing my career and re-evaluating my entire life trajectory to totally change how I lived - in the best way.

It burst that perception bubble that I had been living in and gave me the terrifying opportunity to create a new bubble.

I became obsessed with absolutely loving my life!

The power of our environment

The more I soul-searched and analyzed how I was spending my minutes and what was keeping my negative perception bubble afloat, the more I was directed toward my environment as being a powerful factor.

I realized that our ENVIRONMENTS (especially our homes) play such a crucial role in our lives and level of happiness.

Your environment has the power to energize, inspire, motivate, and support you OR drain you. It's all up to you. And still... learning to declutter isn't enough.

Learning To Declutter Isn't Enough 

We don't all want barren empty places - that's not what a haven feels like to most people! So, it’s not as simple as throwing out all of your stuff. Finding the results you really want is a process...specifically, a HOLISTIC process.

Your space should be designed to be your greatest support system. If you're not using it that way, you're missing out on a huge opportunity.

In fact, even the process of becoming clutter-free is only 20% physical (i.e. decluttering). 🤔

I know! When I say this, people are generally pretty confused. I mean, you have clutter-->you remove the clutter--> now you're clutter-free...right?

If it were that simple, nobody would be living with overstuffed spaces that drive them crazy!

Think about it - the clutter rarely offers resistance; that all comes from us.

Case in point: most of the emails, comments, and DMs I receive from people who are struggling with clutter look like this:

• It's overwhelming figuring out where to start
• I get paralyzed by all the stuff in my home
• I'm worried that I'm too sentimental
• Overwhelm causes me to do nothing at all
• I'm lacking confidence because I've failed to finish so many times
• I fall into "perfection paralysis" and get stuck
• I don't know when to clean and when to declutter
• Everything was so damn expensive and it feels wasteful to get rid of things!

You might notice that none of those struggles has to do with needing a better checklist or organizing system.

It's not about the simple steps of learning to declutter - it's deeper than that.

That's why no matter how many checklists you collect or Pinterest articles you hoard, nothing seems to work!

A Holistic Method 

Without a holistic method of decluttering and creating spaces, you'll end up right back where you started.

If you are still unsure what I mean by "holistic" this is a great way to put it:

"an approach to life that considers multidimensional aspects of wellness. It encourages individuals to recognize the whole person: physical, mental, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual.

The individual is an active participant in their health decisions and healing processes, including wellness-oriented lifestyle choices."

Institute for Holistic Health Studies

It's not just about learning to declutter. People who focus solely on the decluttering aspect tend to miss the holistic benefits that truly give you the supportive haven you're after.

I would love to make this post a two-way conversation, so leave a comment below!

Never give up on becoming the best version of yourself because you deserve amazing peace and clarity.

Thanks for reading and I'll catch you next time.