Declutter to Destress

Circumstances have brought my family into the path of change and onward to a new city. We are very grateful for God's very apparent signs and direction. I am also grateful for the forced decluttering. This will be our third time moving in four years and although I should be bitter and stressed (which I am a little bit), I am very blessed for the opportunity to go through all our belonging and to throw out the stuff we don't need. This becomes much easier the more times a person moves, you realize the important things are the people, and not the items, in our life. 

I just went through my daughter's room and put a lot of her clothes into a box to give to family members. It made me sad to think of her not fitting into her cute little Elmo shirt anymore and thought maybe, just maybe, I should hold onto her cute little booties... but for what? She may have a little girl someday but do I really think that a pair of cute pink booties are going to create a magical moment of happiness? Reality tells me that I'd forget I had them and someone would find them in a box after I (hopefully) make it to heaven one day! No, instead I'd rather give them to my sister or cousin or friend that would get use from them in the near future. That will bring much more satisfaction and take up much less room in my home.

I also find that decluttering helps my mind. When I organize, clean, and get rid of things it relieves a burden that I did not know I was carrying. It's so therapeutic, like letting go over past frustrations and build up of emotions while briefly reliving happy thoughts of moments past. Those memories stay with me forever and I do not  need an old t-shirt, pair of shoes, purse or trinket to remind me of them.

Of course there are things that I could never part with, my journals, pictures, some of the boy's school work (but not a lot) but all of those things need to be organized and easily obtainable and not hidden under layers of unnecessary waste. 

This can also be applied to our lives/ minds, we need to declutter our minds from what's the newest show on T.V., who's the best dressed celebrity, what newest diet should I be focusing on, or who just created drama on fb. We need to remind ourselves of our priorities. My priorities are my faith and my family, these priorities were what helped us to make our final decision to move. You can have the best job but if you aren't able to keep centered on  your faith and spend quality time with your family, it may not be the "best" job. What are your priorities? Have you spent time on the things that truly matter?

I'm appreciative of the next few weeks where I will, again, be decluttering and refocusing my priorities. God has provided us with a wonderful new opportunity and I will remain focused on Him to get through this crazy time!