What Happens After You Declutter?
Once you have done the work to fully declutter your whole home, then comes the inner work of living more intentionally. It is easy to just focus on the “stuff.” It can actually get a bit addicting to declutter. You can begin to see everything in your home with new eyes and question every single decision. You can become obsessed with getting items out and resetting your home. While decluttering is very important (it was ultimately for me the jumping off point into living more intentionally), it is important not to lose sight of your end goal. If you made a vision board prior to decluttering (as recommended by the Konmari Method) then now is a good time to come back to it.
Ask yourself:
“Why am I decluttering?”
“What are my ultimate goals?”
“How do I want to live my daily life?”
“How do I envision my future?”
One way to shift the focus from your items to living more intentionally is through focusing on your habits. This month I decided I wanted to focus on my own habits after reading the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. I have been tracking 13 habit changes in a chart and it has been so eye opening. They range from saying 3 things I am grateful for daily to not consuming any added sugar or white flour this month. It is important to break down your ultimate goals to very small attainable habits. James Clear gives the example of someone who wants to get in shape to shift the focus from getting to the gym daily after work to putting on your gym shoes after work. This small habit change can lead to big changes over time. It is not what we do once, but what we do daily that can create long lasting change.
Honestly I have never been able to give up sugar before this month. I realized that I had been focusing on an end goal (i.e. losing the baby weight) instead of focusing on a small attainable habit change and my “why.” Once I shifted my focus to a few habit changes and I created a visual tracker it suddenly was much easier to do. It was a mindset shift. You are what you do every day. So I’m going from someone trying to lose the baby weight to someone who is getting in daily movement and someone who isn’t eating added sugar or white flour this month.
So many of our daily decisions shape how we feel. Being intentional about your daily habits can spark changes in how we feel and what we can accomplish. Living intentionally is so much more than just donating some old clothes one time. For me it is a lifestyle where you strive to be more present and purposeful in your everyday actions and choices. Your everyday actions are ultimately the tangible expression of who you are. There is always room for improvement because growth is crucial to our happiness. We are all a work in progress.