Stuff. Stuff. And more stuff. My entire home has become overrun with stuff.
The kitchen and dining room tables are filled with photos and memorabilia from my father-in-law, who recently passed. Boxes upon boxes of items line the walls waiting to be organized. Research and sketches for half-finished home projects are strewn about, and a pile of clean clothes that has not yet been folded and put away is mocking me from the living room chair.
Feeling overwhelmed, I retreat into comfort mode and devour a stack of Oreos with milk. Delicious, but now I FEEL stuffed. Not good.
After changing into the required elastic waist pants, I decide to do some very necessary “spring cleaning” in mid-autumn. I choose to tackle a smaller area first, my clothes closet.
I try on every garment, and it goes through the same rigorous scrutiny. I pose a series of questions to decide if it goes back into my closet as a “designated keeper” or into the donate pile.
• Does it fit?
• Do I love it?
• Does it make me feel and look good?
• Does it serve a purpose?
• Have I worn it in the past year? Why or why not?
• Is it better suited for someone else?
As I’m decluttering my closet, it occurs to me that we need to be periodically asking ourselves these very same questions about the mindset, habits, influences, and people we’ve collected over the years. Are they still a good fit for us? Do they help support us with our current dreams and goals? Or are they out of season?
Midlife is the perfect time to do some conscious life editing. Why? Because you are not the same person, you were in your twenties. You may not even be the same person you were a couple of years ago. Over time, your interests have evolved. You’ve set goals, met some, and scrapped others. Your dreams for your future may have been tweaked half a dozen times or more based on the risks you did or didn’t take, the decisions you made, and how you chose to respond to life’s curveballs.
The stories you tell yourself about yourself, your daily habits, and the people you surround yourself with reflect the life you’ve created up to this point. If you aren’t feeling invigorated by your life, then that could be a sign that some alterations need to be made.
If it doesn’t serve you or deserve you, let it go. Make space for better things to come—and they will.
XOXOXO,
