Decluttering: It Doesn’t Matter Where You Start! | with Heather Aardema

I don't know where to start. This is a stalling technique. And we will tell ourselves that we don't know where to start because starting feels uncomfortable and we aren't used to discomfort. And so let me just share that it does not matter where you start. You can start wherever you want to. And as long as you do start, you won't get this wrong. In the feng shui world, they would say, start by the front door. And the reason they would say this is because the energy comes into the house and it exits the house at the front door. A sleep expert, however, would say, start in your bedroom, that a good night's sleep is really, really important. And the clutter in your bedroom absolutely impacts the quality of sleep that you're getting. But what if starting in your bedroom or starting at the front door doesn't feel right? Does that mean you shouldn't start at all?

No.

No. You want to find what feels right and light to you. And so the way I like to recommend or the way I suggest doing this is to follow the Soul Compass. This is the school of living Lighter compass, S O L L. And use that as a guide to figure out the right place for you to start. So the compass has four major coordinates. Listen, let go, learn, and love. Listen is where north would be. So that's where you start. And so you carve out some space, some time, and you ask yourself, okay, where does it feel right and light for me to start? Maybe it's not the front door. Maybe it's not the bedroom. Maybe it's not the kitchen. Maybe it's with a pile of papers, or maybe it's with the sock drawer. Again, it does not matter. It does not matter wherever you start. And so you listen and you ask yourself and you just write down whatever comes to your mind. And once you know where it feels right and light to you to start, then you look at that Soul Compass and you move to let go. And let go is right where east is. And here you let go any thoughts, any remaining thoughts that tell you that you're going to start in the wrong place or that you're going to do it wrong. You let those thoughts go. They're not useful, they're not helpful, and they're all optional. And so you let go of any thoughts that are going to sabotage you or get in your way. And then you move to learn, which is where south is. And learn is all about doing. It's all about going from deciding to declutter to actually doing it. Now decluttering is going to be uncomfortable. And remember this question, I don't know where to start, is a stalling technique. And so what you want to do is remind yourself that when the decluttering feels uncomfortable, that you're not doing anything wrong, that this is exactly the way it's supposed to feel. And I once saw this exercise done by Jack Canfield, and I loved it. And so I'm going to share it here. And he talks about how uncomfortable change can be. And decluttering is change. And so what you do is you put your hands together and you clasp them with one thumb on top of the other. Then you unclasp them, and then you bring them back together again with the opposite thumb on top. So go ahead and do that right now. And then I want to ask you, what do you notice when you have the opposite thumb on top? It feels a little weird, uncomfortable, odd. Well, that's exactly how change feels. That's how decluttering feels. And so when you're in the act, the actual act of decluttering, and it feels a little bit weird or uncomfortable, know that nothing has gone wrong, that you are okay, and keep going. All right, back to that soul compass. So we have listen, we have let go, we have learn, and we have love. Love is a key component of this compass, and it reminds us that we are doing this, this decluttering. That is an act of self love. It's an act of self care. It's an act of care and love for others as well. We don't have to declutter. Nothing is wrong with clutter. We do this because we want to do it. And so how can we make the experience lighter? How can we make it fun? Maybe love would tell you to turn on some music. Maybe love would tell you to create a game. Maybe love would tell you to go on a treasure hunt as you declutter. Love would absolutely tell us that the way we think about decluttering is key to the experience that we're going to have when we do it. And so the next time you hear this thought in your head telling you that you don't know where to start, call it out for what it is. It's simply a stalling technique. It's a thought designed to stall your progress, to make you think that decluttering is more complicated than it needs to be. So when you hear that thought, smile. You recognize it, and you let it go and you say, okay, I used to think that thought, and now I know it doesn't matter where I start. I can start right here, right where I am. Maybe it's with a sock drawer, maybe it's in the kitchen. Maybe you're deciding just to find three pieces of paper to throw out. Whatever you decide, know that it's good enough. Because when you are doing something that counts, anything counts. So again, you don't have to start. You get to start. This is a privilege can be a privilege of your lifetime if you choose to think of it that way.

Thank you for joining us on this.

Path to living lighter.

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