Our clutter brings me so much anxiety and frustration that I find myself grabbing an empty tote box and filling it with random clutter around the house. Just as it’s filled I have a meal to prepare or a child to console and the now full tote ends up in the living room with an intention to organize it but life gets busy, kids don’t sleep and I find myself shoving the box in the back of our closet. It stays in the closet until I feel motivated to go through it and this happens over and over again. It’s a ridiculous cycle that I have gotten myself into and a lot it has to do with…
having TOO much
having too little space (5 people + 970sq ft)
having terrible storage
kids.
lack of sleep and time.
So this next month I am challenging myself to conquer the junk boxes.
Goal:
Eliminate junk.
Donate anything we truly don’t use, don’t have a place for or simply don’t need.
Create/organize homes for all items
Empty all of our boxes and retire them to the shed until we move someday.
In the end I hope that we will be one step closer to living more intentionally, living with less and hoping that this will conquer the mess!
When is the last time you cleaned out your junk drawer?
I should start this by stating these are not my New Year’s Resolutions. Rather, they are my intentions for this year and for my life. Resolutions just feel too restrictive and limiting which is why most people abandon their New Year’s Resolutions by the second week of February.
For me, setting intentions is about living with more focus and purpose. My goal is not to accomplish my intentions by the end of the year but rather work towards living more intentionally from this day forward. My intentions may evolve over time but each one of these intentions has no expiry or finish date.
So what are my 2018 intentions?
1. Find balance as a mama, partner and creative. Balance is another one of those tricky terms. What is balance? Well for each one of us that is going to be different. For me it means ensuring that Neil and I have quality time together as a couple, that I have time carved out each week for me to work on writing, photos and projects that ignite my creative side and that while I am a mama that it isn’t the only thing that I am. Will there be equal time each week for all of these items? No, but that’s not my intent – rather it’s about finding a balance that respects each of these areas of my life.
2. Make self-care a priority. This looks like time for me to sit quietly and re-group, it also looks like a shower without a screaming baby or children popping their head in to ask for a snack. It looks like a trip to the chiropractor, acupuncturist or to do a float. It looks like moving my body or simply sitting still in meditation. There are so many ways to manifest self-care. What does self-care look like for you?
3. Shop with more intention. Online shopping and the dollar area at Target are making it so easy to mindlessly shop for things. Anything that you can think of can be ordered and delivered in two days or even within an hour which is great when the stomach bug hits your house and all you need is more towels but it’s also a curse because we can mindlessly order anything.
4. Create a home that is filled with love, laughter and creativity (without all the clutter). While our home is already filled with these things it is also filled with clutter and just so many things. So it’s time to create a space that is calming and inspirational and not a chaotic, cluttered mess.
5. Listen More Than I Speak. I am very reactionary and feel emotions in a big way and voice them quickly and often sharply. As I focus on living this year with more intention the way I listen and speak is a huge part of this especially with children and my husband.
6. Focus on being present. Yes I am talking about stepping away from screens and spending more time connecting in the moment. Focusing on what is going on right now and giving less time and energy to anxieties, worries and mindless scrolling.
7. Acknowledge my feelings and emotions and take responsibility for them. We are responsible for how we feel, how we react and how we respond.
8. Find the light in everyday. It’s so easy after a hard day to feel like everything has just gone to shit and forget about the little moments that brought a smile and light to the day. So I want to find the light in each day and focus on that and release the dark, frustrating moments.
So now tell me – what are you intentions for 2018?
