simple shui | why clutter starts with radical responsibility
the laundry needed folding, i had a call in 15 minutes, and dinner still hadn’t been resolved. but i went out and dead-headed the mums instead. why?
whatever we bring into our space is our complete and total responsibility.
it’s the piles of books YOU LOVE but are so dusty because you never actually take them off the shelf, flip through the pages, and re-visit them…
it’s the expensive bedding you simply had to have, but you never get up early enough to make the bed…
it’s the consistent trip down the toy aisle to give your kid something special because your parents couldn’t afford that luxury for you, but the chaos of it all at home has turned your house into a plastic playpen…
it’s the pile of dishes that once cost so much money and could be worth a lot if you sold them, but they sit in boxes in the garage…
it’s the brand-new clothes in the closet wearing their store tags on dusty hangers because you’re still waiting for the right moment to wear them…
it’s the piles of ‘better living’ accoutrements covering every surface in the kitchen, the office, or entry table – in the house that you once really really really wanted – yet its beauty and potential is literally suffocating under all the stuff.
i know the excuses, so let’s not go there.
it’s time for a new conversation.
one that starts with radical responsibility.
we once wanted “it”. whatever “it” is, we wanted it. even the stuff you are storing for someone else – we said YES at some point, so ACCOUNTABILITY. even if the space isn’t our dream home, is it better than not having a space, so APPRECIATION. and if something has changed recently that disrupts your ability to once care for the things you love, ACKNOWLEDGMENT. whatever our story is, if we still LOVE the things around us, we need to act like it. otherwise, it is time to let stuff go.
because regardless of what we think, when we spend our money – an extension of our time + physical/mental/emotional effort + energy – on things that we don’t have time to tend or properly care for, can we really be surprised when the debt piles up? or when we can’t find the energy to make those desired changes in our lives? or when the world isn’t seeing our best self so we get passed on the opportunity, the raise, the promotion? when we aren’t letting the things around us live at their best, we won’t either.
it starts at home, so if you want to know why things are happening, look around. be deliberate about your surroundings. and make small improvements without hesitation because they add up quickly to something better. xo
