The objective is to declutter our home, our minds, our bodies!

How many of you have been hooked on the new Netflix series with Marie Kondo? Everyone is watching it and making use of her skillset to transform their living spaces. Last year, I wanted to do a declutter challenge with you guys. But as the story goes, life got in the way and I did not have the time to put out what I was working on myself. In a way, I’m glad that I lived through the process myself first so I could be a better guide for you guys this time around.

What I found over the last year is that there are more areas in our lives that need constant decluttering: our home, yes, but also our minds and bodies need to be decluttered. If you will be joining me for this un-official challenge in February I think working through decluttering these areas of your life will truly be a catalyst to creating the best 2019 yet!

You see, we are creatures of habit. And psychologically speaking, we are much happier and successful humans when we create routines. But routines and sticking to them truly relies on having a right mind and foundation. It’s really difficult to mentally start anything new when our minds and spaces are not right. We will inevitably get overwhelmed and give up. 2019, is not the year of giving up - especially not on ourselves. Which is why each and every month we are going to take the proper steps to create the momentum for real lasting change.

Each week in February we will focus on easy steps. Those that can be accomplished and worked on over the course of the week. February is not about getting overwhelmed it’s about taking a step every single day that will create lasting change. If I’m being honest with you, when I watched Marie’s first episode on Netflix - I got a little anxious. One of her exercises was for the people to take EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF CLOTHING out of their closets and go through them one by one and decide which item “sparked joy” and which ones didn’t. The ones that don’t, you thank it for their time with you and you donate them (if they are in good condition) or toss them. If you kept them you’d have to fold them according to a category in a very specific way and put them away. Now all that sound super dandy…I guess. But it was the taking EVERY SINGLE THING out of the closet at once that gave me anxiety.

Most of us have waaaay too much stuff in our closets/homes. Removing everything all at once would truly and realistically require HOURS to go through, find out if it sparks joy and put away - if we are being honest and depending on our shopping habits, even days.

In my opinion, if you haven’t decluttered your closet (or home) in years - starting with one section daily is more palatable than going full-force. Focusing on a project for hours when you have kids, work, a husband - heck a life is like torture and at times discouraging. However, you can start a section at a time: your jeans, blouses, skirts, pants, winter clothes, the junk drawer in the kitchen we all have - one area per day and tackle that area in an hour or two not 30 hours. Taking smalls steps daily is a lot less stressful than going all out, becoming overwhelmed and then having to look at a pile of clothes, for days, in a corner in your room.

Something to know about me - I HATE clutter! I don’t use the word HATE often but when it comes to clutter I have to keep it all the way real. A pile of clothes that aren’t moving for a few days would send me into full-blown hive mode and I’d be an overall stressed out, unhappy mama until it ends up back in my closet hung any which way, just as long as it’s where it’s supposed to be.

I want February to be manageable. I want you to celebrate every single step you take action on, even if it’s very small step! Did you hear that?? I want every step to be celebrated! Celebrating our WINS is part of this decluttering process. You see, I mentioned decluttering the mind as one of the things we will tackle. We live in a society that if that WIN isn’t BIG enough it wasn’t worth it. I beg to differ. I think that if we celebrated more we would accomplish more because we are demonstrating self-love through celebrating all wins...no matter what size. Our minds need those celebrations, it’s sometimes easier for us to talk unkindly to ourselves than kindly. I once read something that said, “if we talk to a friend the way we talk to ourselves would that person still be our friend?” I want you to think about that - celebrate every step no matter how big or small - showing yourself love is a major step in creating lasting change!

In February, I also want to celebrate your small and big steps! I’d love to know if you’ll be partaking in this un-official challenge. Send me an email at hello @ kaiyadesigns.com and let me know. Oh, and if you know a friend who would love this please this post with them…the more the merrier!

I’m so stoked!


XOXO!
Marcy