Is your “stuff” stopping you?

We wondered, is your stuff stopping you? Do you want to simplify your life? These may seem like strange questions but they came to mind because this is national Simplify Your Life Week. A Google search revealed over 20,400,000 results on how to simplify your life. Simplifying by getting rid of stuff often allows people to have more freedom and a fulfilling life. Over the years, we have accumulated a lot of stuff. In the days of cave people, having a lot of stuff in their caves meant safety – but now times have changed. Stuff can also represent attachment, love and joy with the memories it brings back. It’s like the outfit that was worn on a special occasion years ago and hasn’t been worn since. Now it just takes up closet space. Does that sound familiar?

I (Lynn) remember when, at about seven years old, I got upset and decided to pack all my treasured stuff in a folded scarf and take off to see the world – by myself! I guess seeing the world from a half block away was far enough. I was glad to come home. Even at that young age, I realized that there are a lot more important things besides physical stuff. Yet, it didn’t stop the stuff collection. Doug and I are going to weed out stuff that we think might be stopping us.

Here are some ideas we came across as we learned more about simplifying. You can start with small steps. Simplifying can involve anything you hold on to (stuff) that is disrupting your life and needs to change. Besides physical stuff, simplifying also involves getting rid of stuff around digital, emotional and even spiritual areas. With physical stuff, do you have closets that are stuffed but you have nothing to wear? Do you have too much paperwork that seems to propagate during the night so you have even more the next day? Are there storage units that are filled with contents you hardly recognize and haven’t used in years? For digital clutter, do you have too many emails, too much Facebook time or surfing the web that interferes with your life? With emotional clutter, what thoughts are filling your mind? Are your thoughts ones that are helpful and lift you up or are they thoughts that need to be thrown out? Spiritual clutter can be close to emotional clutter as it involves such things as feelings and acts of being unwilling to forgive or feeling guilt over past actions. What do you need to do to have forgiveness and peace in your heart?

In looking at what causes clutter in these four areas, we admit we have work to do! If you find yourself needing to do some cleaning out, too, don’t be discouraged. Life is a journey and we just do our best, learn, grow and try to do better. Sometimes we run through life handling what we need to handle but we can start now to simplify so in the future, our stuff does not stop us.

At Lake Susan Park, we met Nita Scribner, who was walking her dogs, Pugsley and Missy. We asked her, “What are you doing or would you like to do to simplify your life?” Nita answered, “My life is actually pretty complicated right now, so I do need to simplify it. I’ve lived here in Chanhassen for 25 years and raised my kids in our big house, which we don’t need any more. Now due to circumstances, it’s just me, my husband, and my younger son who is staying with us. We really need to move closer to my work and somewhere with one level so my husband can get around better with his [medical] situation.” We recognize that Nita has a lot going on and she has a saying she pinned up at work. Nita shared,” It is, ‘Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.’ That’s what I’ve kind of been going with for the last eight to ten years since things got a little more difficult.” We thanked Nita for sharing how she’s simplifying and “dancing in the rain” while handling so many challenges.

How about you? What simplifying do you want to do?

Here’s a challenge: Barbara Hemphill trademarked the phrase, “Clutter is postponed decisions”. What do you want to do with physical, digital, emotional and spiritual stuff that doesn’t serve you well? Make decisions and take action so your stuff will not be stopping you from having a more happy and fulfilling life.

Chanhassen residents Doug and Lynn Nodland are Success Coaches and owners of The Balance Center. They can be contacted at WeCare@SharingLifesLessons.com

© Doug and Lynn Nodland 2018 Articles and videos may be shared in their entirety with attribution.