REAL TALK: De-cluttering My Life: My art of letting go and moving on

It’s about time to say good bye to those messy-dirty gray areas in your life that hinder you from better things that await you. Let me quote a very famous quote by all our beautiful (and angry) mothers—“CLEAN UP!!!!!!”

By the time this article is published, it has already been almost a year since I became a working girl. And boy, it does mean I am getting more and more MOOLAH-OH-LA-LA—thus, my love for fashion and shopping has gone to a much higher level, from tianggian to Forever 21! (Hihihi!)

Every month, I would make it a point to reward myself with two or three new dresses. But whenever I would come home to my closet to hang my precious newly-bought possessions, it seems that I just can’t find space for it. 

For some stressful reasons, my closet looks like a DANGER-DANGER-DO-NOT-ENTER zone with all the mess—old clothes, balled-up childhood dresses, rejected t-shirts, and stuff that I haven’t even worn for years all piled and overflowing that I can’t seem to ever close my closet door again. A total nightmare.

I've been told that excessive clutter is often a symptom/cause of stress that can affect every aspect of your life. It could reach a point where it distracts you, weighs you down, and invites more chaos. Then it all boils down to you getting stuck in a decision where the only right answer is to start cleaning up, getting rid of old stuff, and finally creating more room for new blessings.

So I hit it where the magic begins—de-cluttering my closet!

Are there monsters in your closet?

LEARN THE ART OF LETTING GO

While I was in the process of cleaning up my closet, I suddenly realized
how a messy closet can resemble to a messy life. (Yes, I philosophize at the most random times. Sorry not sorry.)

Honestly, I am a very sentimental person and I fall deeply in love with things that could connect me to specific memories in life, which is why I have a hard time throwing old things away (things like old ‘butas-butas’ shirts I can never use again)—I get so sentimental that my ‘butas-himolmol-punet’  clothes are stored and protected in my closet while my beautiful new dresses are hanged at random corners of my room.

And I think that sometimes in life, we have the tendency to hold on tightly to our past, even no matter how useless it already is. We hold on and never let go of it to the point that it piles up and leaves no room for better things coming in our way.  

DE-CLUTTER YOUR LIFE

Change is inevitable so it is a must to embrace the change in our lives, to stop clinging to the past, and to keep moving forward. Remember, hanging on to that old rugged pair of shoes just for the sake of keeping them is hindering you from giving space to a new pair of pointy pump stilettos that represents self-confidence and independence. (Or a new pair of Air Jordans for all you dudes out there.) 

Sometimes we hold on to old things “just in case” the best won’t come our way. Have faith and leave no room for “just in case” or “plan B.”

I saw that the difference of when I recently de-cluttered my closet than all those times I cleaned-up before is that, I now felt more secure and comfortable in getting rid of old stuff that I know I won’t really use anymore. I believe that it is because I had more faith that I had the ability to replace it with better ones because of my job and the blessings God is giving me.

Same with life, the stronger your faith is in God and His purpose for your life, the easier it will be for you to let go of the past (—whether it’s a big mistake you've made, a grudge you've held for so long, an insecurity caused by the mean things you heard from people around or anything in the past that could bring you down) and now, to make room for new experiences, clearer vision in life, truer friends, and a better life to sum it all up.

DE-CLUTTER YOUR LIFE BY FORGIVING YOURSELF. 

Forgive yourself from your mistakes. Acknowledge the fact that what you did was wrong, then throw all the guilt feelings out the window—ALL OF IT. But! Remember to still keep with you the lessons you've learned. The life ahead of you is too valuable for you to let it get ruined by the life behind you.

DE-CLUTTER YOUR LIFE BY FORGIVING OTHERS. 

It is so easy and tempting to keep a grudge. It’s actually a bad human condition that whenever we get hurt by people, our initial reaction is to turn to our feelings, which is usually anger, resentment,  and thoughts of revenge. But it’s ironic to think that when we decide to hate a person forever, we don’t really hold that person as captive from living his or her life. When we decide to hold a grudge, we actually lock-up ourselves in our own prisons. Time to let it go and forgive, because yes, you deserve to be free!

 “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” - Lewis B. Smedes

TRANSFORM OLD CLOTHES TO DONATIONS & PAST STORIES TO GREAT TESTIMONIES.

The common misconception about cleaning a closet is that we think our “useless” clothes can go straight to the garbage bin. Wrong. What could be useless to us can be useful to another. Think of how happy less fortunate children will be when they get to wear the old dresses you got from good ol' stores. Imagine how much funds you can raise by encouraging all your friends to clean up their closet, by compiling all their old stuff, and by setting up a garage sale in which all proceeds go to a less fortunate community or even just someone you know that is in dire need of money. (Timely for Christmas spirit! LET’S DO THIS! I. AM. SERIOUS.)

Same with old clothes; do not ever throw your personal stories away. People who are in the middle of experiencing what you've already gone through would want to know that you made it out just fine.  Our stories are meant to be shared to others to inspire them and to encourage them. Share the story of what God has done in your life—how He changed you and how He made a way to turn your darkest moments into a beautiful story of victory that could impact the lives of many in the middle of battle.

FINALLY, EMBRACE THE SPACE.

After having my closet all cleaned up, organized, and now with a good enough space left for more to come, I certainly loved breathing in the winds of change. Letting go was hard, but not doing so would surely keep me from experiencing all the greater things that life has to offer and from becoming the person that I am destined to be.  De-cluttering is not just about disposing of things, it’s about making room for the best things ahead of you and HAVING FAITH THAT IT WILL COME.

Like what they always say—the best is yet to come!!!!!